NASA's Planet Hunter Found an Evaporating 'Super-Earth'

  • 6 years ago
NASA's Planet
Hunter Found an
Evaporating 'Super-Earth' The first alien world found by NASA's new planet hunter, The Transitioning Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), has been named
Pi Mensae c. The super-earth was discovered around the star Pi Mensae, which is about 59.5 light-years from Earth. The yellow dwarf star is the
second-brightest among stars
known to have transiting exoplanets. Pi Mensae c is about 2.14 times Earth's diameter and 4.82 times Earth's mass. Chelsea Huang, lead author, to Space.com An additional exoplanet, gas giant
Pi Mensae b, was previously
discovered, making an oval-
shaped orbit around the star. Chelsea Huang, lead author, to Space.com A detailed account of the
findings was submitted to
The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

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