Earth is a rather special place, quite unlike the other planets in the solar system. It’s nestled at the perfect distance from the sun to allow our water to remain liquid and for life to flourish in turn. It’s a rare thing; most planets are either too close and scorching hot, or too far and freezing cold.
NASA is always on the hunt for planets like our own, and recently found a new super-Earth by the name of TOI-715b. The planet is larger than our own, but it’s position and makeup mean that it’s a prime candidate for further study. Let’s take a look at how NASA discovered this planet, and why it’s special.
On The Hunt
An impression of how TOI-715b could look, orbiting around its red dwarf star. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The search for Earth-like planets is inherently a key part of the search for other life in the universe. After all, at this time, the only place we know of that hosts life is our own planet. Thus, if we’re looking for more life, we’d expect to find it somewhere similar. Thus, NASA has put plenty of effort into finding these Earth-like planets, along with Super-Earths, that are like our own, only larger.
This hunt is handled by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS for short. As you might guess from the name, it’s a satellite charged with the specific job of finding far-off planets. It achieves this by watching distant stars for the characteristic shadow of an orbiting planet passing in front of them; these are referred to as “transits.” TESS was charged with examining bright stars near to our Sun in order to hunt for these tran ..
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