The 'super-Earth' and 'hot Earth' planets were spotted in solar systems at least 49 light-years away during a $337million mission. NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or 'TESS' - a planet-hunting orbital telescope - made the incredible discovery. 'TESS' is designed to detect worlds beyond our solar system, as part of astronomers' bid to expand the known catalog of so-called exoplanets, worlds circling distant stars. MIT researchers on Wednesday (September 19) announced the discovery of Pi Mensae c, a "super-earth" planet 60 light-years away orbiting its sun every 6.3 days. The discovery of LHS 3844 b, a "hot-earth" planet 49 light-years away that orbits its sun every 11 hours, was announced the next day.

Source: Daily Mirror September 21, 2018 15:45 UTC