Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of astronomers has detected a new warm mini-Neptune alien world transiting a bright M-dwarf star. The newly found exoplanet, designated TOI-1201b, is estimated to be about six times more massive than the Earth. The finding is detailed in a paper published September 20 on arXiv.org.
TESS is conducting a survey of about 200,000 of the brightest
stars near the sun with the aim of searching for transiting exoplanets. So far, it has identified over 4,500 candidate exoplanets (TESS Objects of Interest, or TOI), of which 155 have been confirmed so far.
Now, a group of astronomers led by Diana Kossakowski of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, Germany, confirm another TOI monitored by TESS. While observing a bright M-dwarf designated TOI-1201 (also known as TIC-29960110), a transit signal was identified in the light curve of this star. The planetary nature of this signal was confirmed by follow-up photometric observations.
