NASA finds two new worlds, expecting more findings

TESS is on a two-year, $ 337 million mission to expand the known catalog of so-called exoplanets, worlds that surround distant stars.


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 22-09-2018 03:19 IST | Created: 22-09-2018 03:19 IST
NASA finds two new worlds, expecting more findings
NASA hopes to locate thousands of unknown worlds, perhaps hundreds of them the size of Earth or the "super-Earth" type. (Image Credit: Twitter)

An orbiting telescope designed to detect worlds beyond our solar system discovered two distant planets this week, five months after its launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, officials said Thursday.

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) made an early discovery of "super-Earth" and "hot earth" planets in solar systems at least 49 light-years away, marking its first discovery since its launch in April.

TESS is on a two-year, $ 337 million mission to expand the known catalog of so-called exoplanets, worlds that surround distant stars.

While the two planets are too hot to sustain life, TESS science assistant director Sara Seager is expecting more findings. 

We will have to wait and see what else TESS discovers, Seager told Reuters.

We know that the planets are outside, covering the night sky, waiting to be found, he added.

TESS is designed to extend the work of its predecessor, the Kepler space telescope, which discovered most of the nearly 3,700 exoplanets documented over the past 20 years and is running out of fuel.

NASA hopes to locate thousands of unknown worlds, perhaps hundreds of them the size of Earth or the "super-Earth" type.

It is believed that these planets are more likely to have rocky surfaces or oceans and, therefore, would be the best candidates for life to evolve.

Scientists have said they hope that TESS will ultimately help to catalog at least 100 other rocky exoplanets to study in what has become one of the newest fields of exploration in astronomy. 

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