TESS discovers an Earth-sized planet orbiting nearby M-dwarf star
Why it matters: The discovery of TOI-4616 b expands the known population of Earth-sized planets, informing future searches for habitable worlds.
- An international team of astronomers discovered the exoplanet TOI-4616 b.
- NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) provided the crucial data for this finding.
- TOI-4616 b is an extrasolar planet slightly larger than Earth, orbiting an M-dwarf star.
Astronomers have identified an Earth-sized exoplanet, TOI-4616 b, orbiting the nearby M-dwarf star TOI-4616, utilizing data from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). This discovery adds another potentially rocky world to the growing catalog of extrasolar planets, offering new avenues for studying planetary formation and habitability around common star types.
