Super‑Earth: NASA uncover planet sending signal 154 light years away

In a discovery that has excited astronomers around the world, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has detected a “super‑Earth” planet—dubbed TOI‑1846 b—orbiting a red dwarf star approximately 154 light‑years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. The planet, which is roughly 1.8 times the size of our own planet and packs around 4.4 Earth masses, first came to light due to a subtle yet consistent dimming of its host star’s brightness. This unusual flicker from super‑Earth, captured by TESS each March, led researchers to hone in on the signal—revealing the ex istence of the planet.

Confirmation didn’t stop there. Abderahmane Soubkiou and colleagues at Morocco’s Oukaimeden Observatory, alongside astronomers across four continents, employed a combination of multicolor photometry, high‑resolution imaging, and spectroscopic observations to verify that the signal was indeed planetary in origin and not a false positive. Together with NASA’s TESS data, these efforts cemented TOI‑1846 b as a bonafide member of the growing roster of exoplanets.

super‑Earth or TOI‑1846 b’s orbit is notably tight, completing a full rotation around its red dwarf star every 3.93 days at a distance comparable to just 0.036 astronomical units. Temperatures on this planet soar to around 568 K (around 295 °C), effectively ruling out any possibility of life as we know it. Despite this inferno-like state, the planet’s size and mass place it near what scientists call the “radius valley,” a curious boundary in exoplanet classification where planets transition from rocky super‑Earth to gas-rich sub‑Neptunes. Understanding why this gap exists—and what planets like TOI‑1846 b reveal about it—could provide vital clues to processes that shape planetary systems.

One of the tantalizing possibilities raised by the discovery lies in the planet’s potential composition. Its density is too low for a purely rock‑solid body yet too high for a gas giant. The researchers speculate that TOI‑1846 b could harbor a dense ice core wrapped in a thin atmosphere—or perhaps even a sliver of ocean—though any water would have to remain in cooler regions created by tidal locking, where one hemisphere perpetually faces its star. If confirmed, this would place the planet in the intriguing category of “water‑rich super‑Earths,” offering a uniquely valuable window into planetary evolution around small stars.

To probe the planet’s atmosphere and mass in more detail, astronomers plan to deploy precision instruments like MAROON‑X at Gemini North in Hawai‘i to measure stellar wobbles triggered by the planet’s gravity. These radial-velocity observations could not only pin down the planet’s true mass but also uncover potential sibling planets in the system. Meanwhile, securing observation time with the James Webb Space Telescope is viewed as a top priority. With its infrared spectrometers, JWST might one day be able to detect atmospheric constituents—water vapor, methane or other molecules—even in a super‑heated world like this one.

Although TOI‑1846 b’s scorching environment dismisses hopes for life, its discovery offers a valuable laboratory for understanding how atmospheres survive close to red dwarfs, which make up roughly 75 percent of the stars in our galaxy. These stars’ lower temperatures allow small planets to orbit closely and remain detectable—making discoveries like TOI‑1846 b vital to the broader quest for Earth-like worlds. Each new addition to the catalog of super‑Earths enhances scientists’ ability to chart planetary formation histories, assess atmospheric loss, and explore the full diversity of worlds beyond our own.

Ultimately, TOI‑1846 b is more than just another dot in a cosmic ledger—it is a bold clue in a complex puzzle. It sits precisely in a planetary size range that may undergo dramatic transformation, hinting at whether some planets are stripped down to dense cores or protected by thick gaseous envelopes. As instruments like TESS continue observing and JWST and MAROON‑X gear up for follow-up studies, TOI‑1846 b may emerge as a cornerstone case in our evolving understanding of how planets form and evolve under the fierce glare of red dwarf stars.