NASA’s TESS exoplanet hunter found its first Earth-size planet, but you wouldn’t want to visit

[Mike Wehner]

NASA's TESS exoplanet hunting telescope has been on the job for less than a year, but it's already racking up some impressive discoveries. Following the announcement of a new "Hot Saturn" back in March, NASA just revealed that TESS found its first Earth-sized planet outside of our solar system.

TESS — which stands for Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite — is designed to detect the telltale signs of exoplanets orbiting the stars it observes by spotting the tiny changes in brightness associated with a planet passing in front of them. This latest observation is actually the 10th confirmed planet TESS has discovered, but it's the first one that is likely close to Earth in overall size. Still, you definitely wouldn't want to go there.

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NASA’s TESS exoplanet hunter found its first Earth-size planet, but you wouldn’t want to visit originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 16 Apr 2019 at 21:03:03 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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