Are we alone in the universe? Time to ask Tess

The Nasa/SpaceX satellite has found a handful of mysterious galactic neighbours which bring us one step closer to answering the question of who is out there

Searching for exoplanets used to be compared to stamp collecting - there would be rare finds, but explaining the broader relevance to everyone else was a challenge. The discovery of the Trappist-1 system in 2015 changed that.

Last week there was another massive step forward, albeit without the society-changing ramifications of the Trappist-1 system’s promise of possibly answering the age-old question of whether we are alone in the universe.

Instead we’ve found a ...