Astronomers Identify 27 Potential Circumbinary Planets Using NASA TESS Data

Exam-focused facts from the 6 May 2026 current affairs briefing.

Key facts

Astronomers have discovered 27 potential circumbinary planets, which are planetary bodies that orbit two stars.
The discovery was made using data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which was launched in 2018.
The researchers employed a technique called apsidal precession, which involves studying the wobble in stars that orbit and eclipse each other to detect a third body.
The candidate planets are located between 650 and 18,000 light years from Earth and range in size from Neptune-like planets to bodies ten times the mass of Jupiter.
The study was led by researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.