NASA Planet Has Hunter That Found Earth-Sized Habitable-Zone of World

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has recently discovered its first ever Earth-sized planet in its star's habitable zone which is the range of distances where some conditions may be just right for allowing the presence of liquid water on its surface. Scientists have confirmed the find, called TOI 700 d that uses NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and have also modeled the planet's potential environments to help inform future observations.

TOI 700 d is also considered one of only a few Earth-size planets and has discovered in a star's habitable zone so far. Others have also included several planets in the TRAPPIST-1 system and in other worlds discovered by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope.

Paul Hertz who is astrophysics division director at NASA Headquarters in the Washington has said that TESS has been designed and launched specifically for finding Earth-sized planets orbiting nearby stars, he further added that planets that are around nearby stars are the easiest option for following up and with larger telescopes in the space and on Earth. Discovering TOI 700 d is like a key science finding for TESS. Further confirming the planet's size and the habitable zone status with Spitzer is yet another win for Spitzer as it is approaches the end of science operations this January.

TESS has monitored large swaths of the sky that are called sectors, for 27 days at a time. This long stare has allowed the satellite for tracking changes in stellar brightness that is caused by an orbiting planet which crosses in front of its star from our perspective, an event known as transit.

By: Prerana Sharma

Content: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200106200012.htm