An illustration of an exoplanet passing in front of its star. The square grid represents individual pixels taken by NASA's TESS satellite. (Image credit: Nikolai Berman/University of California, Irvine)
The roughly 200 exoplanets outside our solar system discovered by astronomers may be larger than previously thought, which could impact the search for extraterrestrial life.
That's the hypothesis of a group of researchers who analyzed a multitude of exoplanets observed by NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).
TESS searches for exoplanets by capturing them as they pass (transit) across the surface of their parent star, causing that star to dim slightly. The team found that light from neighboring stars can “contaminate” the TESS data, creating the illusion that the transiting planet is blocking less light than it actually is. This makes the planet appear smaller than it actually is.
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Sourse: www.livescience.com
