Using the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has detected a new exoplanet orbiting a nearby star. The newfound alien world, designated TOI-2431 b, is comparable in size to Earth and has a very short orbital period. The finding was reported in a research paper published July 11 on the pre-print server arXiv.

NASA’s TESS monitors about 200,000 bright stars near Earth, looking for temporary drops in brightness caused by planetary transits. Since its launch in April 2018, the satellite has identified more than 7,600 candidate exoplanets (TESS Objects of Interest, or TOI), of which 638 have been confirmed so far.

Now, a team of astronomers led by Kaya Han Taş of the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, reports the confirmation of another TOI monitored by TESS. According to the paper, a transit signal has been detected in the light curve of TOI-2431—a star of spectral type KV7 located some 117 light years away. The planetary nature of this signal was confirmed by follow-up ground-based observations.