Stunning Artist’s Impression of a Star with Two Exoplanets Transiting
Credit: NASA, ESA, and G. Bacon (STScI)
Astronomers have discovered over 10,000 candidate planets using data from NASA’s telescopes, representing the largest number ever noted in a single observation.
NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), launched in 2018, specializes in searching for exoplanets—planets orbiting stars outside our solar system. Exoplanets are detected by observing temporary decreases in brightness from stars, indicating that an orbiting planet has moved in front of the star.
To date, TESS has confirmed more than 750 exoplanets, with thousands more candidates awaiting validation. The aggregate number of confirmed exoplanets by various telescopes has now surpassed 6,000.
Joshua Roth and researchers at Princeton University reported an even higher potential count by re-evaluating TESS’s first year of data. By merging images from different telescopes, they identified planets that are less luminous, whether due to their smaller size or greater distance from Earth. This effort has uncovered 11,554 candidate exoplanets, 10,091 of which weren’t previously acknowledged.
“Predictions indicated there were likely thousands of undiscovered planets within TESS data,” says Roth. “We simply hadn’t searched thoroughly enough yet.”
These newly identified planets extend up to 6,800 light-years from Earth, reaching deeper into the galaxy than TESS previously could. More than 90% of these new findings are categorized as ‘hot Jupiters’, gas giants orbiting extremely close to their stars in just a few days. TESS is particularly adept at detecting such worlds. Smaller variants, including Neptune-like planets and super-Earths, are also among the findings.
However, not all candidates are confirmed exoplanets. Each must be monitored using additional telescopes, as some signals may be false positives due to factors like binary stars. “The false positive rate for TESS is typically around 50%,” Roth states, estimating there could be a maximum of 5,000 genuine planets, but cautions that perhaps only 3,000 truly exist.
Nonetheless, this wealth of data could effectively double the known exoplanet count in the universe. Jesse Christiansen, the lead scientist at NASA’s Exoplanet Science Institute, emphasizes the importance of these discoveries for understanding exoplanet formation. “The more exoplanets we have, the better we can analyze and differentiate them,” she notes, highlighting the diverse types of ‘Jupiters’ different stars produce. “These are essential questions we can address with a sizable sample.”
Additionally, there are many more planets in the TESS data that await discovery, including around 8,000 previously identified candidates still under investigation. “We always anticipated that eventually thousands of planets would be revealed,” Christiansen predicted, suggesting that TESS could ultimately confirm between 12,000 and 15,000 planets. “I’ve eagerly awaited a document like this for quite some time.”
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Source: www.newscientist.com
