TESS Archives

Stellar insolation at a planet’s orbit as a function of escape velocity from the planet’s surface, in log-log scale. Based on data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive downloaded on May 18, 2023. The empirical “cosmic shoreline” and the water vapor greenhouse runaway threshold (Zahnle & Catling 2017) are shown in cyan and yellow, respectively. Planets are categorized into terrestrial planets (magenta), sub-Neptunes (blue), Neptune-like planets (green), and gas giants (yellow) based on radius, see legend. The red line shows the possible range of escape velocities of GJ 238 b. Because only radius, but not mass, is known, the two endpoints represent two extreme interior scenarios – a 100% iron composition and a 100% silicate composition. -- astro-ph.EP

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

GJ 238 b: A 0.57 Earth Radius Planet Orbiting an M2.5 Dwarf Star at 15.2 pc

by Keith CowingJuly 26, 2024July 26, 2024

We report the discovery of the transiting planet GJ 238 b, with a radius of 0.566±0.014 R⊕ (1.064±0.026 times the radius of Mars) and an orbital period of 1.74 day.

The planetary architectures of the systems WASP-16, HAT-P-27, HAT-P-26, and TOI-2411 are shown from top to bottom. The sizes of the elements in this figure scale with the sizes of the represented stars and planets. The sizes of the stars are scaled relative to each other, and the planets are scaled relative to each other, but the relative scales between stars and planets are not accurate, with planets oversized for clearer visualization. Known planets in the systems are displayed in solid colors, while the candidates found in this study are highlighted with a gray halo and transparency, whose properties are listed in Table 3. -- astro-ph.EP

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

The SHERLOCK Pipeline: New Exoplanet Candidates In The WASP-16, HAT-P-27, HAT-P-26, and TOI-2411 Systems

by Keith CowingJuly 25, 2024July 25, 2024

The launches of NASA Kepler and TESS missions have significantly enhanced the interest in the exoplanet field during the last 15 years, providing a vast amount of public data that […]

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 […]

Astronomy & Telescopes, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Setting The Stage For The Search For Life With The Habitable Worlds Observatory: Properties Of 164 Promising Planet-survey Targets

by Keith CowingJuly 18, 2024August 2, 2024

The Decadal Survey on Astronomy and Astrophysics 2020 has recommended that NASA realize a large IR/optical/UV space telescope optimized for high-contrast imaging and spectroscopy of ∼25 exo-Earths and transformative general […]

Temperate exoplanet LHS 1140 b may be a world completely covered in ice (left) similar to Jupiter’s moon Europa or may be an ice world with a liquid substellar ocean and a cloudy atmosphere (centre). LHS 1140 b is 1.7 times the size of our planet Earth (right) and is the most promising habitable zone exoplanet yet found in the search for liquid water beyond the Solar System. CREDIT Benoit Gougeon, Université de Montréal

Astropharmacy / Biotechnology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Webb Telescope Finds A Potentially Habitable Icy World

by Keith CowingJuly 11, 2024July 11, 2024

A international team of astronomers led by Université de Montréal has made an exciting discovery about the temperate exoplanet LHS 1140 b: it could be a promising “super-Earth” covered in […]

Artist’s conception of the newly discovered planet Gliese 12 b, which is orbiting a red dwarf star located 40 light-years away. This artist's conception assumes that the planet retains a tenuous atmosphere. Future follow-up observations will clarify what kind of atmosphere the planet actually retains. CREDIT NASA/JPL-Caltech/R. Hurt (Caltech-IPAC)

Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Mars, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release, Venus, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Gliese 12 b: Earth Twin or Evil Twin

by Keith CowingJuly 8, 2024July 7, 2024

The discovery of a planet similar to Venus around a star in the neighborhood of the Solar System raises hopes that astronomers may someday unlock the secret to why life […]

Planetary properties for the combined sample used for analysis and probability density distribution split by planet radius or period. Left: Planetary radius and orbital period for all the known transiting planets associated with the 153 planet hosts in Louden et al. (2021) and the 20 planet hosts in the 2022 sample are shown on top of the full KOI sample. The planets outlined in black have hosts with Teff > 6250 K. Right: We divided the planets into subsets based on radius and period and fit the sub-samples. The dashed lines on the left panel show the locations of the cuts over the planet sample in period-radius space. After performing each of the two cuts, the resulting distributions of ⟨sin i⟩ are labeled according to the half they represent. -- astro-ph.EP

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

A Larger Sample Confirms Small Planets Around Hot Stars Are Misaligned

by Keith CowingJuly 1, 2024July 1, 2024

The distribution of stellar obliquities provides critical insight into the formation and evolution pathways of exoplanets. In the past decade, it was found that hot stars hosting hot Jupiters are […]

Detrended TESS (top row) and CHEOPS (bottom row) light curves, phase-folded to the orbital periods of HIP 29442 b (left), c (middle) and d (right). The coloured points show the 30-min binned data, the solid black lines show the best-fit transit models. -- astro-ph.EP

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Unveiling the Internal Structure And Formation History Of The Three Planets Transiting HIP 29442 (TOI-469) With CHEOPS

by Keith CowingJune 28, 2024June 28, 2024

Multiplanetary systems spanning the radius valley are ideal testing grounds for exploring the proposed explanations for the observed bimodality in the radius distribution of close-in exoplanets. One such system is […]

Full sample of 133 sub-Neptunes used in this study. The top-left panel shows the mass-radius relation. The (nearly)-resonant population is defined as ∆MMR 0.05. The black line is the sub-Neptune mass-radius relation from Parc et al. (2024). Other panels show the cumulative distributions for parameters of the planets or their host star. The pvalue given for each parameter is the probability that the distribution of that parameter is drawn form the same underlying distribution for the (nearly) resonant and non-resonant populations. The potential 2D correlation between parameters is explored in Fig. B.1. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrogeology, Astronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report

Resonant Sub-Neptunes Are Puffier

by Keith CowingJune 28, 2024June 28, 2024

A systematic, population-level discrepancy exists between the densities of exoplanets whose masses have been measured with transit timing variations (TTVs) versus those measured with radial velocities (RVs).

Mass-radius diagram for WASP-132c. The lines show the massradius relation for a pure water model (blue), an Earth-like model (green), and a pure-iron model (gray). The other exoplanets are taken from the PlanetS catalouge (Otegi et al. 2020). -- astro-ph.EP

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

Refining the WASP-132 Multi-planetary System: Discovery of a Cold Giant Planet and Mass Measurement of a hot Super-Earth

by Keith CowingJune 27, 2024June 27, 2024

Hot Jupiters generally do not have nearby planet companions, as they may have cleared out other planets during their inward migration from more distant orbits.

TESS

GJ 238 b: A 0.57 Earth Radius Planet Orbiting an M2.5 Dwarf Star at 15.2 pc

The SHERLOCK Pipeline: New Exoplanet Candidates In The WASP-16, HAT-P-27, HAT-P-26, and TOI-2411 Systems

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

Setting The Stage For The Search For Life With The Habitable Worlds Observatory: Properties Of 164 Promising Planet-survey Targets

Webb Telescope Finds A Potentially Habitable Icy World

Gliese 12 b: Earth Twin or Evil Twin

A Larger Sample Confirms Small Planets Around Hot Stars Are Misaligned

Unveiling the Internal Structure And Formation History Of The Three Planets Transiting HIP 29442 (TOI-469) With CHEOPS

Resonant Sub-Neptunes Are Puffier

Refining the WASP-132 Multi-planetary System: Discovery of a Cold Giant Planet and Mass Measurement of a hot Super-Earth

Relevance of the Avalon Assemblage as an Astrobiological Analog for Icy Ocean Worlds

The Climate and Potential Habitability of a Warm and Oxygenated Mars

Variable X-ray flux May Explain Variable Helium Escape From The Habitable-zone Exoplanet LHS 1140b

Spacetime Contactability in Galactic Civilization Networks: Contact Counts and Percolation

Surprisingly Enriched CO and CH4 in Halley-type Comet 13P/Olbers: Clues to Its Interstellar Heritage