TESS Finds First Nearby Super-Earth (and it may be Habitable)

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has found its first super-Earth near our solar system. This world, GJ 357 d, also orbits within the habitable zone of the star, where temperatures are neither too hot, nor too cold, for water to pool on its surface, potentially filling oceans.

The star around which this world (and at least two others) orbit, GJ 357, is an M-type star, one-third the size and mass of our Sun, and 40 percent cooler. This system is found just 31 light years from Earth, in the direction of the…