TOI 270 – NASA finds a new planetary system about 73 light years away from earth

  1. NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has recently discovered a new planetary system. It has been named as TOI 270.
  2. TOI 270 is about 73 light years away from Earth, and is located in the constellation Pictor.
  3. The members of the planetary system include a dwarf star (TOI 270), which is 40% smaller than the Sun in size and mass, and the three planets or exoplanets (planets outside the solar system).
  4. The exoplanets have been named TOI 270 b, TOI 270 c, and TOI 270 d. TOI 270 b is the innermost planet.
  5. TOI 270 c and TOI 270 d are Neptune-like planets because their compositions are dominated by gases rather than rock.
  6. The three planets orbit the star every 3.4 days, 5.7 days, and 11.4 days respectively.
  7. Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is an all-sky survey mission that seeks to discover exoplanets around nearby bright stars. It was launched in April 2018, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.