Scientists from NASA announced Tuesday that they discovered an Earth-size planet orbiting its star's habitable zone.
Working with data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, Michigan State University has helped discover an Earth-sized exoplanet — a planet outside of our solar system.
This planet, named TOI-700 e, falls within its star’s habitable zone, meaning the newfound planet could be capable of supporting life as we know it. The research team announced the finding Jan. 10 at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle.
Michigan State University Assistant Professor Joey Rodriguez, who helped spearhead the project that discovered the Earth-sized exoplanet TOI-700 e
Astronomers believe that many such planets exist in our galaxy and across the universe. The discovery of TOI-700 e, along with the earlier confirmation of its host system, could provide unique opportunities to better explore exoplanets going forward
“Even with more than 5,000 exoplanets discovered to date, TOI-700 e is a key example that we have a lot more to learn,” said Joey Rodriguez, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at MSU, who helped make the discove
Rodriguez was one of the senior researchers on the project, led by Emily Gilbert, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. The duo is also part of the original team that confirmed the TOI-700 system in 2020, finding it had at least three planets (named TOI-700 b, TOI-700 c and TOI-700
With the new discovery, the team showed that the TOI-700 system has two Earth-sized planets within its habitable zone
Source.https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2023/discovery-of-an-earth-sized-exoplanet
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