HomeAstronomy & SpaceAstronomyTESS found hot Earth-sized exoplanet

TESS found hot Earth-sized exoplanet

Astronomers have discovered a new Earth-sized planet orbiting a nearby star by using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Scientists have named the newly found alien world as GJ 3929 b. It is slightly larger and more massive than the Earth. It is also much hotter than our home planet. The study has been published in the arXiv pre-print server.

TESS is conducting a survey of about 200,000 of the brightest stars near the sun. It is searching for transiting exoplanets. It has identified over 5,200 candidate exoplanets and 180 have been confirmed.

Heidelberg University in Germany scientists have confirmed another TOI monitored by TESS. Scientists reported a transit signal has been identified in the light curve of an M dwarf star. It is known as GJ 3929.  The planetary nature of this signal was confirmed by the CARMENES spectrograph.

GJ 3929 b has a radius of about 1.15 Earth radii. Its mass is approximately 1.21 Earth masses. The planet’s density is calculated to be 4.4 g/cm3. The exoworld orbits its parent star every 2.61 days. It is at a distance of about 0.0026 AU from it. The equilibrium temperature of this planet is to be 569 K.

Astronomers said that the high equilibrium temperature of GJ 3929 b. It makes it a prime target for atmospheric follow-up observations. Scientists used James Webb Space Telescope which can deliver important information regarding the composition, formation and evolution of small and rocky planets.

The host star GJ 3929 has a spectral type M3.5 V. It is about three times smaller and less massive than our sun. It has a rotation period of about 122 days. Its luminosity at a level of approximately 0.011 solar luminosities. Its effective temperature was measured to be around 3,369 K. It is located 51.6 light years away from the Earth.

Astronomers assumed that at least one more planet may be orbiting GJ 3929. But further studies of this system are required to confirm this.

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