The new SAINT-EX Observatory in Mexico has detected two exoplanets orbiting the red dwarf TOI-1266. This demonstrates that this new telescope can do the job it was designed to do. 

SAINT-EX is an acronym for Search And characterIsatioN of Transiting EXoplanets and makes the not intuitive decision to use the I and N in characterization to make the backronym pronounceable. These test observations were taken just before Mexico’s Covid19-related lockdown began, and the observatory has been closed since then. When the lockdown lifts, this telescope is poised to make planet finding a little bit easier.

While we don’t normally cover individual new planet discoveries because they are so common, we will make an exception for the scope’s first worlds. 

These two worlds orbit their red dwarf home star every eleven and nineteen days. The inner planet is just under 2.5 Earth radii and is classified as a sub-Neptune planet, and the outer planet is 1.5 times the size of Earth and counts as a super-Earth. 

These worlds and the new scope are described in a new paper in Astronomy & Astrophysics with first author Brice-Olivier Demory, who says: Planets between about the radius of TOI-1266 b and c are quite rare, likely because of the effect of strong irradiation from the star, which can erode their atmospheres. 

SAINT-EX project coordinator and researcher, Yilen Gomez Maqueo Chew adds: Being able to study two different types of planets in the same system is a great opportunity to better understand how these different sized planets come to be.

More Information

University of Bern press release 

“A Super-Earth and a Sub-Neptune Orbiting the Bright, Quiet M3 Dwarf TOI-1266,” Brice-Olivier Demory et al., 2020 Oct. 2, Astronomy & Astrophysics (preprint on arxiv.org)