Scientists have identified 85 new exoplanetsusing data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).

“All exoplanets are found in 85 unique systems: one planet per star,” explains Faith Hawthorn, director of the research and PhD candidate in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Warwick.

The expert noted that the diversity of these exoplanets is remarkable: some potentially rocky and others gaseous. However, the habitability of these planets remains the subject of further research.

“It’s quite rare for habitable planets to be discovered; There is a very specific set of conditions required for habitability, and future work would be needed to confirm this,” Hawthorn said.

The TESS mission methodology involves looking for ‘transits’, periodic weakenings of a star’s light caused by a planet transiting in front of it. This approach allows astronomers to infer details such as a planet’s size and its orbital period around the star.

A planet’s distance from its star is crucial in determining its potential habitability, especially if it is within the “living area”, where conditions may be suitable for life, the portal describes earth.com.

“There is a lot of room for further research into these exoplanets, to learn more about their exact orbital periods, whether they have moons or not, and exactly what they are made of,” Hawthorn said.

The orbital periods of these new exoplanets are estimated to vary between 20 and 700 days.indicating cooler temperatures compared to most exoplanets observed by TESS, which have much shorter orbital periods.

Of the 85 discovered exoplanets, 60 are new, while 25 have also been discovered by other research groups. These findings await confirmation from NASA, But researchers are hopeful that future observations will provide definitive validation.

According to Hawthorn, “future work from other research groups may confirm the planets; “A planet is considered ‘confirmed’ if it has mass (we only have its size, not its mass).”

There is currently a catalog of more than 5,500 confirmed exoplanets. (JO)