exoplanets

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soars upward after lifting off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, carrying NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

By:
On:
In: Exoplanets, Observatory, Photometry, TESS

TESS launched this week.   Not many minutes after lift-off on a SpaceX Falcon 9, it was in space.  It will find tens of thousands of new planets, but will need help from the ground.  PEST has been gearing up for this support role since March last year.Read More →

Artist’s impression of LHS 1140b transiting its host, a small, faint red star. Depicted in blue is the atmosphere the planet may have retained. Credit: M. Weiss/CfA

By:
On:
In: Discoveries, Exoplanets

There is a new top candidate for the best place to search for life outside our Solar System.  Announced in Nature on April 20th 2017, LHS 1140b is a super-Earth in the habitable zone of a nearby small star.  This is the story of that discovery and the role PEST played.Read More →