Neptunian Desert Archives - Astrobiology

This is an artist's impression of a unique type of exoplanet discovered with the Hubble Space Telescope. The planet is so close it to its star that it completes an orbit in 10.5 hours. The planet is only 750,000 miles from the star, or 1/130th the distance between Earth and the Sun. Credit: NASA, ESA, and A. Schaller (for STScI) - https://science.nasa.gov/asset/hubble/artists-impression-of-an-ultra-short-period-planet/ - This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.

AI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release

AI Approach Uncovers Dozens Of Hidden Planets In NASA’s TESS Data

by Keith CowingMarch 31, 2026March 31, 2026

Astronomers at the University of Warwick have validated over 100 exoplanets, including 31 newly detected planets, using a new artificial intelligence tool applied to data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey […]

We present the discovery by the TESS mission of one transiting Neptune-sized planet, TOI-6223 b and two transiting super-Earths, TOI-1743 b and TOI-5799 b. We validate these planets using a statistical validation method, multi-color light curves and other ancillary observations. astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

TOI-1743 b, TOI-5799 b, TOI-5799 c and TOI-6223 b: TESS Discovery And Validation Of Four Super-Earth To Neptune-sized Planets Around M dwarfs

by Keith CowingSeptember 19, 2025September 19, 2025

We combined TESS and ground-based photometric data to constrain the physical properties of the planets. TOI-6223-b is slightly larger than Neptune (Rp=5.12+0.24−0.25 R⊕) orbiting an early M dwarf in 3.86 […]

TOI-421 b -- NASA.gov

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release

The ATREIDES Program In Search Of Lost Exo-Neptunes

by Keith CowingSeptember 17, 2025September 17, 2025

An international team led by the University of Geneva (UNIGE), including scientists from the National Centre of Competence in Research PlanetS, the University of Warwick, and the Canary Islands Institute […]

The colour-magnitude diagram of the CPM companion stars to host stars of confirmed exoplanets (left) and TOI PCs (right), corrected for G band extinction. The background consists of the primary and secondary stars in the El-Badry et al. (2021) binary catalog. The companion sources below the main sequence are discussed in Section 6.1. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Status Report

A High Stellar Multiplicity Rate Amongst TESS Planet Candidates In The Neptunian Desert Using Gaia DR3 Astrometry

by Keith CowingJuly 1, 2025July 1, 2025

We aim to discover whether the stellar multiplicity rate may provide information on the origin of recently discovered planets in the Neptunian Desert.

Nearby sources contaminating the TOI-1117 photometry. Left: TPF-shaped heatmap with the pixel-by-pixel flux fraction from TOI-1117 in S13. The red grid is the SPOC aperture. The pixel scale is 21 arcsec pixel−1 . The white disks represent all the Gaia sources, and the five sources that most contribute to the aperture flux are highlighted in different colours. The disk areas scale with the emitted fluxes. Right: Flux contributions to the SPOC aperture from the target and most contaminant stars. -- astro-ph.EP

Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

The TOI-1117 Multi-planetary System: 3 Sub-Neptunes, 1 In Both The Neptunian Desert And Radius Valley

by Keith CowingJune 9, 2025September 18, 2025

We present the discovery of three sub-Neptune planets around TOI-1117, a Sun-like star with mass 0.97±0.02M⊙, radius 1.05±0.03R⊙, age 4.42±1.50 Gyr and effective temperature 5635±62 K. Light curves from TESS […]

Planet radius versus orbital period of the Kepler DR25 catalogue. Each detection is coloured according to the assigned weight to correct for observational biases. The contour line represents the lowest percentile our dataset is sensitive to. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Icy Worlds, Neptune, Status Report

Mapping The Exo-Neptunian Landscape. A Ridge Between The Desert And Savanna

by Keith CowingSeptember 25, 2024

Atmospheric and dynamical processes are thought to play a major role in shaping the distribution of close-in exoplanets. A striking feature of such distribution is the Neptunian desert, a dearth […]

Target Pixel Files (TPF) for TOI-2374 from TESS S28 (top) and TOI-3071 from S64 (bottom). Targets are marked as a white cross. Other Gaia DR3 sources within a limit of 4 Gaia magnitudes difference are marked as red circles, and are numbered in distance order from the targets. The aperture mask is outlined and shaded in red. This figure was created with tpfplotter (Aller et al. 2020). -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Status Report

TOI-2374 b and TOI-3071 b: Two Metal-rich Sub-Saturns Well Within The Neptunian Desert

by Keith CowingJuly 19, 2024July 7, 2024

We report the discovery of two transiting planets detected by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), TOI-2374 b and TOI-3071 b, orbiting a K5V and an F8V star, respectively, with […]