New warm sub-Neptune exoplanet discovered with TESS
This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility:
Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has discovered a new warm sub-Neptune exoplanet, which is nearly three times larger than the Earth. The finding was reported in a research paper published June 13 on the pre-print server arXiv.
To date, TESS has identified more than 7,200 candidate exoplanets (TESS Objects of Interest, or TOI), of which 475 have been confirmed. Since its launch in April 2018, the satellite has been conducting a survey of about 200,000 of the brightest stars near the sun with the aim of searching for transiting exoplanets—ranging from small, rocky worlds to gaseous giants.
Now, a group of astronomers led by Molly Nies of East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania, reports the confirmation of another TOI monitored by TESS. They identified a transit signal in the light curve of HD 21520, or TOI-4320—a sun-like G star at a distance of about 257 light years. Planetary nature of this signal was validated by follow-up observations.
