Using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers have discovered two rocky exoplanets orbiting a nearby K-type star, known as TOI-2322. The newfound alien worlds are comparable in size to Earth and have relatively short orbital periods. The finding was detailed in a paper published August 25 on the arXiv pre-print server.
Using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers have discovered two rocky exoplanets orbiting a nearby K-type star, known as TOI-2322. The newfound alien worlds are comparable in size to Earth and have relatively short orbital periods. The finding was detailed in a paper published August 25 on the arXiv pre-print server.
TESS is conducting a survey of about 200,000 of the brightest stars near the sun with the aim of searching for transiting exoplanets. Since its launch into space in 2018, it has identified more than 7,600 candidate exoplanets (TESS Objects of Interest, or TOI), of which 686 have been confirmed so far.
TOI-2322, also known as TIC 300812741, is a star of spectral type K4, at a distance of some 195 light years away from Earth. The star was observed with TESS multiple times between 2018 and 2023. These observations identified transit signals in the star’s light curve, suggesting the presence of exoplanets.
