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Tess

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Pulsation Timing Hints at Giant Planet in Habitable Zone of Hottest Known Star
science13 days ago

Pulsation Timing Hints at Giant Planet in Habitable Zone of Hottest Known Star

Astronomers have identified a potential gas giant, HD 156295 b, orbiting in the habitable zone of the hottest known star, HD 156295. Located 140 light-years away, the star is an A-type Delta Scuti variable with a surface temperature of 13,500 degrees Fahrenheit. The candidate planet, roughly six times the mass of Jupiter, orbits at 3.9 astronomical units with a period of 2,200 days. While the discovery is tentative with a 50% probability of being real, it represents the first potential habitable-zone planet around such a massive, hot star.

Pulsation Timing Hints at Giant Planet in Habitable Zone of Hottest Known Star
science13 days ago

Pulsation Timing Hints at Giant Planet in Habitable Zone of Hottest Known Star

Astronomers have identified a potential gas giant, HD 156295 b, orbiting in the habitable zone of the hottest known star, HD 156295. Located 140 light-years away, the star is an A-type Delta Scuti variable with a surface temperature of 13,500 degrees Fahrenheit. The candidate planet, roughly six times the mass of Jupiter, orbits at 3.9 astronomical units with a period of 2,200 days. While the discovery is tentative with a 50% probability of being real, it represents the first potential habitable-zone planet around such a massive, hot star.

TESS uncovers Gaia23bra b via microlensing, a planet hidden in the data
science3 months ago

TESS uncovers Gaia23bra b via microlensing, a planet hidden in the data

NASA’s TESS has detected Gaia23bra b, a planet about 1.6 times Jupiter’s mass orbiting a distant orange-dwarf star roughly 40,000 light-years away, using gravitational microlensing—an effect predicted by Einstein’s general relativity. Hints of Gaia23bra b first appeared in Gaia data in 2023; microlensing provides a complementary route to exoplanet discovery alongside the transit method, and NASA’s Roman Space Telescope will use this technique to find about 1,000 microlensing planets in the Milky Way.

Einstein-powered microlensing uncovers a distant exoplanet in TESS data
space3 months ago

Einstein-powered microlensing uncovers a distant exoplanet in TESS data

NASA's TESS has detected Gaia23bra b using gravitational microlensing—a method based on Einstein's general relativity—marking a rare microlensing planet found in TESS data. Hints first appeared in Gaia data in 2023; Gaia23bra b weighs about 1.6 Jupiter masses and orbits an orange-dwarf star roughly 40,000 light-years away, far beyond TESS's typical transit range. This discovery shows microlensing can reveal planets that transit methods miss and foreshadows Roman Space Telescope-led microlensing surveys, which could uncover many more such worlds.

Jupiter-Sized Super-Puffs Defy Density, Hint at New Planetary Formation
space3 months ago

Jupiter-Sized Super-Puffs Defy Density, Hint at New Planetary Formation

NASA’s TESS revealed two Jupiter-sized exoplanets orbiting TOI-791, about 1,110 light-years away in the Volans constellation, that are ‘super-puffs’ with densities far lower than cotton candy. They are the lightest known planets for their size, probably hydrogen–helium worlds whose composition will be clarified by Webb Space Telescope follow-up. Formed in gas-rich disks and later stripped down, these rare planets are among fewer than 40 super-puffs out of about 6,300 confirmed exoplanets.

NASA's TESS Spots Two Ultra-Low-Density Exoplanets in One System
science3 months ago

NASA's TESS Spots Two Ultra-Low-Density Exoplanets in One System

NASA's TESS has identified two Jupiter-size exoplanets in the same star system that are astonishingly low in density—about 3% and 5.9% of Jupiter's mass—earning them the label of the puffiest planets. Their large radii combined with low masses produce cotton-candy-like densities, and they exhibit unusually long orbits with mutual gravitational effects that alter transit timings, enabling mass estimates. The discovery, based on seven years of data (1,122 days of observations), offers a rare chance to study their atmospheres and how such ‘cotton candy’ worlds form.

Brown Dwarf Skews Exoplanet System, Rewriting Planet-Formation Tales
space3 months ago

Brown Dwarf Skews Exoplanet System, Rewriting Planet-Formation Tales

Astronomers using TESS uncover an improbable exoplanet system around TOI-201: a massive brown dwarf TOI-201 c on a long, highly eccentric 2,881‑day orbit coexisting with a warm Jupiter (TOI-201 b) and a rocky super‑Earth (TOI-201 d). The brown dwarf’s gravity reshapes the inner disk, forcing planets to form at the hot inner edge and causing pronounced transit timing variations during close approaches. Mass confirmation marks TOI-201 c as a rare long‑period transiting brown dwarf, and the findings—published in Nature—challenge standard gas‑giant formation models.

Edge-on Coplanar Triple-Star TIC 295741342 Illuminates How Such Triples Form
space4 months ago

Edge-on Coplanar Triple-Star TIC 295741342 Illuminates How Such Triples Form

NASA’s TESS has identified TIC 295741342, a rare, edge-on triple-star system about 3,080 light-years away, where a sun-like binary with a 4.75-day orbit is eclipsed by a distant third star on a 412.8-day path. All three stars share nearly the same orbital plane, producing a distinctive “head-and-shoulders” light curve and offering clues to formation via disk fragmentation. While close planetary orbits are unlikely in such a setup, very wide orbits could exist. The outer star is aging into a red giant, potentially leading to future mass transfer and nova-like events. These findings come from TESS photometry combined with radial velocity measurements and are discussed in a preprint on arXiv.

TESS Unveils Its Most Complete All-Sky Map of Exoplanets Yet
space4 months ago

TESS Unveils Its Most Complete All-Sky Map of Exoplanets Yet

NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) released its most complete all-sky mosaic, assembled from 96 sectors observed between 2018 and September 2025, mapping about 6,000 potential exoplanets (roughly 679 confirmed and 5,165 candidates). The mosaic highlights the diversity of worlds found, including a recently identified system with a super‑Earth and a tilted, eccentric companion and evidence of planet–planet collisions, marking the conclusion of TESS's second mission extension in Sept 2025.

TESS Unveils the Most Complete All-Sky View of Exoplanets
science5 months ago

TESS Unveils the Most Complete All-Sky View of Exoplanets

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has released its most complete all-sky mosaic (96 sectors from 2018–Sept. 2025), showing about 679 confirmed exoplanets and 5,165 candidates; the image traces the Milky Way’s plane and demonstrates TESS’s ongoing success in finding diverse worlds, including possible habitable-zone planets, while total exoplanet confirmations across missions exceed 6,270.

TESS Finds 27 Hidden Worlds by Timing Eclipses in Binary Stars
space5 months ago

TESS Finds 27 Hidden Worlds by Timing Eclipses in Binary Stars

NASA’s TESS analyzed 1,590 eclipsing binaries and found 27 candidate exoplanets by timing the stars’ mutual eclipses, a method that can detect planets even when they don’t transit. The candidates range from ~12 Earth masses to ~10 Jupiter masses, with confirmation needing follow-up velocity measurements; the work expands planet searches in binary systems beyond the standard transit approach.

Twin-sun worlds: 27 circumbinary planet candidates spotted in latest survey
science5 months ago

Twin-sun worlds: 27 circumbinary planet candidates spotted in latest survey

A new survey using data from NASA’s TESS telescope identified 27 strong circumbinary planet candidates orbiting binary star systems (out of 1,590 binaries), suggesting there could be thousands of such planets hiding in the galaxy. Planets are inferred from variations in the stars’ eclipse timings, and while the candidates range from Neptune-sized to up to Jupiter-sized, they require future observations to confirm their status.

Two-Sun Worlds: 27 Candidate Circumbinary Planets Uncovered
science5 months ago

Two-Sun Worlds: 27 Candidate Circumbinary Planets Uncovered

Astronomers using apsidal precession timing of eclipsing binary stars and NASA’s TESS data identified 27 new candidate planets that would orbit two stars. Distances range from 650 to 18,000 light-years, adding to about 18 previously known circumbinary planets. Follow-up spectral analysis is needed to confirm whether these bodies are planets (likely Neptune-sized to ~10 Jupiter masses) or brown dwarfs/stars. The study was published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.