The Tansiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite discovered its first eath like exoplanet within the habitable zone!
Image Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center - HDR tune by Unviersal-Sci
NASA discovered a potentially habitable exoplanet that is approximately the same size as our home planet by using its Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (also called TESS). The exoplanet orbits its host star within the habitable zone where liquid surface water can exist.
TESS found the new planet by using the so-called transit method for exoplanet hunting. When an exoplanet crosses in front of its parent star, the brightness of starlight originating from that star will dim slightly as seen from our perspective. By measuring the decrease in light intensity, astronomers can determine what kind of exoplanet they have encountered.
A simulated silhouette of Jupiter (and 2 of its moons) transiting our Sun - Image Credit: Tomruen via Wikimedia Commons
The newly discovered exoplanet, called TOI 700 d, is located about 100 light-years away from us and is roughly 20% larger than Earth. A year on TOI 700 d takes 37 days. Although exoplanets are found on a regular basis (more than 4000 have been discovered as of right now), TOI 700 d is one of only a few Earth-size planets discovered within the Goldilocks zone of their host star, and the first-ever that is found by TESS. However, it is expected that TESS will find several more as it is specifically designed to detect Earth-like worlds.
Whether or not actual life can survive on TOI 700 d has yet to be determined as there are still lots of unknowns regarding the exact environmental circumstances on the planet's surface. One thing astronomers have discovered though is that TOI 700 d is tidally locked to its star, which means that one half bathes in eternal sunlight, and the other half always exists in darkness.
Astronomers plan to further investigate TOI 700 d in the future. One of the burning questions is whether the planet has an atmosphere or not. If so, it would be interesting to know how similar it is to the atmosphere of our home planet. As a result of the fact that the planet is tidally locked to its star scientists expect wind patterns and cloud formations to be very different from what we see here on Earth.
The three planets of the TOI 700 system - Image Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
We can expect more news about TOI 700 d after the launch of the James Webb space telescope that is set to replace the Hubble Space Telescope next year. The JWST is potentially powerful enough to analyze the light interacting with the planet's atmosphere. Up until that time, we only have our imagination to envision what kind of world is out there... In any case, we will keep you updated!
Source and further reading: Methods of detecting exoplanets / NASA Exoplanets / NASA press release
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