Using the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), astronomers have discovered a new “super-Earth” exoplanet orbiting a star located approximately 83 light-years away. This new planet is slightly larger than Earth and completes a full orbit around its star in less than four days.
Searching for new worlds with TESS
NASA’s TESS space telescope is surveying approximately 200,000 bright stars near the Sun in search of transiting exoplanets. To date, this satellite has already cataloged nearly 7,900 potential exoplanets (known as TESS targets), of which 759 discoveries have been officially confirmed.
Now, a team of astronomers led by Yilen Gómez Maqueo Chew of the National Autonomous University of Mexico has announced the confirmation of one more planet observed by TESS. They detected a transit signal in the light curve of TOI-1080, an inactive star of spectral type M4V. The planetary nature of this signal was confirmed through further observations using ground-based telescopes.
Probably a new rocky super-Earth
According to the study, TOI-1080 b has a radius of approximately 1.2 times that of Earth, and its mass is estimated to be no more than 10.7 times that of Earth (more likely around 1.75 times that of Earth). The planet has an orbital period of approximately 3.97 days and orbits very close to its star—at a distance of about 0.027 astronomical units. The equilibrium temperature of TOI-1080 b is approximately 368 K.
Based on these properties, astronomers have classified TOI-1080 b as a moderately warm super-Earth with a likely rocky composition. Since the planet lies within the habitable zone of its host star, researchers have suggested that it could potentially have an atmosphere composed of carbon dioxide or a dense oxygen atmosphere. However, studies of atmospheric characteristics are needed to confirm this.
Characteristics of the TOI-1080 planetary system
As for the parent star TOI-1080, it is five times smaller than the Sun, and its mass is about 0.16 solar masses. The star has an effective temperature of 3,065 K, a metallicity of −0.25 dex, and is estimated to be at least 5 to 7 billion years old.
Given that red dwarfs like TOI-1080 often have multiple planets, the study’s authors investigated whether other exoplanets might exist orbiting this star.
According to the astronomers’ findings, the presence of additional transiting planets with radii greater than 0.9 Earth radii and orbital periods ranging from 0.5 to 7.7 days is ruled out; for orbital periods up to 19 days, radii greater than 1.4 Earth radii are ruled out in the system based on TESS photometry.
According to phys.org
