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NASA\u2019s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has been busy. Clocking in over 5000 exoplanet candidates, the researchers who manage the telescope\u2019s data have enlisted an army of volunteer classifiers to sift through its data to confirm whether these planets exist. In a new paper in Astronomy & Astrophysics, some researchers from Brazil think they have found three planets that almost certainly do \u2013 and they happen to orbit stars that are very similar to our own Sun.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n The planets were located in two separate star systems, known as TOI-2141 and TOI-1736, respectively. TOI-2141 is located about 250 light years away; while it is slightly older than our Sun, it\u2019s almost exactly the same size. TOI-173 is 290 lightyears away and about the same age and temperature as our Sun. However, it is slightly larger and has more heavy elements, which could significantly impact the formation of planets. It\u2019s also a binary star system, which we will get into later.<\/p>\n There are several categories that exoplanets are slotted into. The planetary candidates in TOI-2141 and TOI-1736 fall into two distinct ones \u2013 \u201cSuper-Jupiters\u201d and \u201cmini-Neptunes,\u201d since many of the categories use planets in our home system as a basis.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n