During the analysis of data from the TESS space telescope, scientists from the University of Warwick (University of Warwick) discovered 85 new candidates for exoplanets with suitable conditions. This means that all new objects are in the so-called region of their star, where climatic conditions allow water to remain liquid. These discoveries have not yet been confirmed and may one day lead to the discovery of extraterrestrial life.

More than 5,500 exoplanets have been discovered so far. The TESS telescope contributed to these discoveries by hunting for exoplanets using a method of recording a transit, which is the passage of a planet in front of its host star’s disk. A short-term decrease in the brightness of a star with a certain period of time allows you to calculate the mass of the object (exoplanet), its orbit, dimensions and therefore its density. All these data allow us to find out with sufficient accuracy what kind of planet we have discovered and how close it is to the Earth in terms of its properties.

An object is given discovered exoplanet status only when its size and orbit are confirmed by two different registration methods. So far, all 85 new candidates have been found in TESS transit data and need to be confirmed. While all new objects only obscure their stars twice at most, this occurs more frequently in already confirmed exoplanets. And the more often this happens, the more reliable the data, and also the closer the exoplanet is to the star, which is bad for the development of life – it is too hot and there is strong radiation.

Of the 85 candidates for exoplanets in the region, 25 have already been discovered by other teams of scientists, once again confirming the reproducibility of the discoveries. However, for the first time, the names of 60 candidates were announced. They are all in their own star systems. Preliminary data indicate that the newly discovered exoplanets orbit their stars with periods ranging from 20 to 700 days. However, all of them are larger than Earth – from a third to several tens of times larger. However, this is due to imperfections in our instruments, which cannot yet record truly Earth-like planets.

All new candidates will be reviewed further to verify and refine their data. But it is already clear that there are many planets in the universe, and according to the laws of large numbers, extraterrestrial life should not be unique. One day we will find it, and whether it will be good or bad is another question.