Nasa Tess: Earth-like planet and other top discoveries
- Published
This is what as artist thinks the new planet might look like
Nasa's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (Tess) has just discovered an Earth-like planet.
The planet sits around 31 light years away from Earth, and has been nicknamed GJ 357 d.
The reason why scientists are pretty excited about the discovery, is because they think it might have liquid water on it.
This means it has the potential to support life, in the same way our planet can.
GJ 357 d lives in what scientists call the 'Goldilocks zone' - meaning it's not too hot or too cold.
This is a picture of what the 'Goldilocks' or habitable zone could look like
However, the planet is much closer to its star than the Earth is to our Sun, and it only orbits once every 55.7 days.
Tess has only been in orbit for a year but its already discovered 21 planets - including a tiny planet and a gas-giant.
The satellite was designed to replace the Kepler telescope which was also on a mission to discover more about the planets outside of our solar system.
- Published29 July 2019
- Published14 February 2017
- Published20 June 2017
