NASA’s newest planet-hunting telescope just discovered a ‘super-Earth’ and 2 ‘sub-Neptunes’ less than 75 light-years away

Aug 1, 2019

NASA’s newest planet-hunting telescope just discovered a ‘super-Earth’ and 2 ‘sub-Neptunes’ less than 75 light-years away — among the closest exoplanets ever found

Posted by Alberto Lao in category: alien life

Three newly discovered worlds are among the smallest and nearest we’ve ever detected.

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS — a super-powerful orbiting telescope designed to hunt for alien worlds — found the planets orbiting a star just 73 light-years away.

One is a rocky “super-Earth” that’s more massive than our home planet but lighter than giants like Neptune. The other two are icy “sub-Neptunes” that are about half the size of Neptune.