NASA ’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite , otherwise known as TESS , has discover its little exoplanet yet . Known as L 98 - 59b , the satellite is about 80 percent of Earth ’s sizing . Bigger than Mars but slightly smaller than Venus .
The human beings revolve an M - socio-economic class star about one - third the mass of our Sun , and it has siblings . The two other planets , L 98 - 59c and L 98 - 59d , are severally around 1.4 and 1.6 times bigger than Earth . The breakthrough is reported inThe Astronomical Journal .
Finding such a planet it is not an easy task , so it shows the incredible electric potential for TESS . It ’s estimated that over its 2 - year primary mission , it ’s expected to chance more than 20,000 exoplanets . Around 1,000 of them are expect to be Earth - sized – or smaller , distinctly .
cubic decimetre 98 - 59b is about 10 percent little than theprevious record - holderthat TESS has distinguish . The smallest exoplanet ever observed isKepler-37b , and it is only 20 percent larger than the Moon .
“ The discovery is a great engineering and scientific accomplishment for TESS , ” lead author Veselin Kostov , an astrophysicist at NASA ’s Goddard Space Flight Center , said in astatement . “ For atmospheric studies of small major planet , you call for short orbits around burnished stars , but such planets are unmanageable to detect . This organization has the potential for bewitching future studies . ”
While the engineering is almost there for these elaborated observations , we can speculate about the nature of these planets . All three of them orbit their star very closely , get severally 22 , 11 , and four clip more beamy energy than Earth does . This puts them in the so - called Venus zone , the part in a terrestrial system where Earth - sizing planets might undergo a runaway greenhouse process and becomehellish worlds like Venus .
observatory like the James Webb Space Telescope ( on plan for 2021 ) will be able to study these planets in more detail . So we could find out if the satellite in the L 98 - 59 system are Earth - same , Venus - like , or completely different from our prospect .
" If we viewed the Sun from L 98 - 59 , theodolite by Earth and Venus would lead us to guess the major planet are almost monovular , but we have a go at it they ’re not , ” said Joshua Schlieder , an astrophysicist at Goddard , and co - author of the study . “ We still have many doubtfulness about why Earth became habitable and Venus did not . If we can find and hit the books similar examples around other stars , like L 98 - 59 , we can potentially unlock some of those secrets . ”
