NASA’s TESS observatory finds its third exoplanet

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) launched by NASA in April 2018 has found its third exoplanet which orbits a star that is located 53 light years away. For those who are not aware, an exoplanet is a planet that belongs to a solar system apart from our own. The stream of discoveries since TESS began operations in July 2018 has the scientific community celebrating. The search for exoplanets is one of the most exciting aspects of space exploitation, paving the way for greater understanding of various types of planets and even harboring the possibility of finding alien life.

This planet, named HD 21749b orbits a neighboring star in a 36-day orbit and is about three times the size of earth and about 23 times as massive. In light of its size and mass, scientists believe that it would most likely be a gaseous planet, unlike a rocky one like earth. Gaseous planets are mostly composed of gas, just like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. TESS was launched as a successor to the Kepler space observatory, which managed to find over 2600 planets in its nine years of service. Both Kepler and TESS look for planets using the transit method.

The transit method involves observing slight decreases in a star’s brightness when planets pass in front of them. Larger and brighter stars facilitate better studies.