NASA's TESS satellite finds three exoplanets in its first three months

NASA’s newest planet-hunter that kicked off its mission after a launch from the Space Coast has found even more worlds orbiting outside our solar system.

Launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in April, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, has already found at least three exoplanets in its first three months of observations. The results arrived much faster than even some ground-based telescopes.

The first planet, Pi Mensae c, is about twice Earth's size and orbits the star Pi Mensae every six days. Located 60 light-years away, it can be seen in the night sky in the Mensa constellation.

The second, a rocky planet known as LHS 3884b, is slightly larger than Earth and one of the closest ever found at only 49 light-years. It's located in the Indus constellation. It orbits a dwarf star every 11 hours and scientists speculate that some of its rocky surfaces could form into pools of molten lava during the daytime. 

The last confirmed planet, HD 21749b, is roughly three times Earth’s size and orbits its star every 36 days.

But there could even be a fourth planet in the ranks. If confirmed, it could be about the size of Earth and orbiting the same star as HD 21749b. It would be the smallest TESS-found planet to date.