NASA's TESS Mission , Has Already Identified , Thousands of Possible Alien Worlds.<br />'Newsweek' recently reported on some of the weirdest <br />and most exciting exoplanet candidates detected by <br />NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).<br />So far, TESS has discovered <br />over 5,000 alien worlds <br />outside of our own solar system. .<br />In 2018, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) launched the TESS mission and began gathering information about these distant worlds. .<br />This time last year, TESS had found just over <br />2,400 TOIs. Today, TESS has reached more <br />than twice that number—a huge testament <br />to the mission and all the teams scouring <br />the data for new planets. I'm excited <br />to see thousands more in the years to come!, Michelle Kunimoto, a postdoctoral researcher at MIT.<br />This time last year, TESS had found just over <br />2,400 TOIs. Today, TESS has reached more <br />than twice that number—a huge testament <br />to the mission and all the teams scouring <br />the data for new planets. I'm excited <br />to see thousands more in the years to come!, Michelle Kunimoto, a postdoctoral researcher at MIT.<br />'Newsweek' reports that many of the exoplanets <br />already identified stand out for either <br />general weirdness or a likeness to the Earth. .<br />TOI-2109b orbits its parent star, about 855 million light-years from Earth, in just 16 hours.<br />Daytime temperatures on TOI-2109b <br />reach a searing 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit.<br />GJ-367b, one of the smallest planets detected, <br />has a super-fast orbit of just eight hours, <br />and daytime temperatures up to 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit.<br />Other exoplanets have been noted <br />for their similarities to the Earth. .<br />In January of 2020, NASA announced it had found the <br />first Earth-sized planet within the habitable zone of its star.<br />TOI-700d is reportedly a rocky world only slightly larger than Earth, about 100 light-years away
