A spacecraft that launched last year on a mission to find new exoplanets has stumbled upon a planet roughly the same size as our own. NASA’s Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite (TESS) spotted its first Earth-sized planet in a system roughly 53 light-years away. Scientists estimate the distant world as a radius of about 2.7 times Earth’s, and may be home to a substantial atmosphere. The planet, dubbed HD 21749b, is what’s known as a sub-Neptune exoplanet, meaning it has less mass than Neptune and Uranus. It sets the path for finding smaller planets around even smaller stars, and those planets may potentially be habitable.’

Source: Daily Mail April 16, 2019 22:58 UTC