Nasa uncovers ‘Super Earth’ planet flashing with mysterious repeating signal

NASA has uncovered a new ‘Super Earth’ planet just 154-lightyears away that has been flashing a mysterious signal.

The planet appears to be almost twice as wide as our planet, and roughly four times heavier.

Earlier this year, Nasa’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) captured a repetitive flicker of starlight.

The dimming pattern, captured by TESS, occurred in March of each year.

Tracing it back, scientists stumbled across a ‘Super Earth’, dubbed TOI‑1846 b, hiding in the northern constellation Lyra.

The planet has a size and weight combination that suggests it falls into the so-called ‘radius gap’.

This a rare category between small, rocky planets like Earth and larger, gas-rich planets like Neptune. 

Based on this, scientists believe the newly discovered world may have a layer of dense ice underneath, topped by a thin atmosphere – or maybe even a shallow ocean.

Despite an estimated surface temperature of 300C (600F), researchers say the planet may still hold water. 

This is because TOI‑1846 b is likely tidally locked – meaning one side always faces its star while the other remains in darkness. 

Water, therefore, may be trapped in the cooler, darker regions, according to scientists.

Although it depends on how heat moves through its atmosphere.

Given the scorching temperatures, alien life is unlikely to be found on the planet.

Working with observers on four continents, researcher Abderahmane Soubkiou and colleagues at the Oukaimeden Observatory in Morocco confirmed the existence of the exoplanet.

“We have validated TOI‑1846 b using TESS and multicolor ground‑based photometric data, high‑resolution imaging, and spectroscopic observations,” Soubkiou wrote at the end of the team’s announcement.

Their measurements show the planet orbits its star in just under four days.

TESS scans the sky every 30 minutes with four high-sensitivity cameras, making it the ideal tool for spotting shallow light dips like those from TOI-1846 b.

Each dip in the light from its neighboring star, a Red Dwarf, is caused when the planet passes in front of it from the perspective of Earth.

Because the star is faint, each transit of TOI‑1846 b subtracts only a few hundredths of a percent of its light – but TESS is built for picking up such slight flickers.

But different tools are needed to learn more about the possibly rocky, water-featuring world.

The team noted that the MAROON‑X instrument on Gemini North in Hawai’i can verify the planet’s mass and uncover any hidden sibling planets lurking in the shadows.

Nasa scientists hope they can secure time with the James Webb Space Telescope and target TOI-1846 b to study its atmosphere using infrared light. 

The $10 billion telescope discovered its first-ever exoplanet just last month, but has been used to analyse others on its journey through space.

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