NASA's Tess spots a gaseous planet 3 times as large as the Earth

New York: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) with the help of Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) just found a new planet.

This is the third planet discovered by TESS. It is the slowest yet moving planet. Known as HD 21749b, it is 53 light years away from the Earth.

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It is to be mentioned that HD 21749b is a gaseous planet with a surface temperature of about 300° Fahrenheit. HD 21749b revolves around its host star which is cooler than the Sun, in 36 days.

It is the longest-period planet discovered by TESS. According to scientists, there is a possibility of life on this planet due to its dense atmosphere.

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Diana Dragomir of Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, MIT, said that this is the smallest and the coolest planet ever to rotate its host star. She further said that despite being the smallest planet, it is 3 times as large as the Earth.

What is TESS?

-The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is a space telescope for NASA's Explorers program.

-The TESS was launched on April 18, 2018.

- The primary mission objective for TESS is to survey the brightest stars near the Earth for transiting exoplanets over a two-year period.

-It was designed to search for exoplanets using the transit method in an area 400 times larger than that covered by the Kepler mission.

-The TESS searches for planets orbiting distant stars.

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