Request:
NASA technology has discovered a “super-Earth” exoplanet that emits “strange signals.”
Rating:
Rating: Mostly True
What is True:
Scientists using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite discovered an exoplanet, which NASA defines as any planet beyond our solar system.
What is False:
However, the coining of the phrase “strange signals” came from reports and social media posts about the discovery, not NASA or the researchers involved. The alleged “strange signals” are actually commonly observed transit signals, which “reveal an exoplanet not because we see it directly from many light-years away, but because the planet passes in front of its star ever so slightly dimming its light,” according to NASA.
A rumor circulating on social media in January 2026 said that scientists had discovered a “super-Earth” outside our solar system.
One post on X claimed that the so-called super-Earth, named TOI-1846b, was 154 light years away and emitted “mysterious, repeated” signals.
The statement repeated similar rumors from July 2025, such as an Instagram post (archived) that offered more details about the alleged discovery, including that the planet was “about twice the size of Earth” and was made using NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DMMNi27snga/
Indeed, claims that scientists have discovered a new exoplanet using TESS are mostly true. The discovery was made by a research team based in Oukaimeden Observatory in Morocco that “validated TOI-1846b using TESS and ground-based multicolor photometric data, high-resolution imagery, and spectroscopic observations,” according to a paper published by the discovery team.
However, there is some important context to understand.
For example, reports of signs described as “mysterious” or “strange” by users on social media and tabloids such as Daily Mail they were embellished to entice the readers, and that is why we made this claim as the truest. Claims suggesting that the discovery of TOI-1846b could be attributed to something otherworldly, unfamiliar or “strange” coming from the exoplanet were inaccurate.
Rather, the scientists in question employed a method commonly used to detect exoplanets by measuring transit signals or “dips” in starlight captured by scientific instruments due to a planet passing in front of the star it orbits. A NASA spokesperson explained to Snopes via email:
When a planet passes directly between us and a star, the planet blocks some of the star’s light from reaching us. For a short period of time, the starlight is dimmed from our perspective. That small change can alert astronomers to the presence of a planet around a distant star. This change is known as a transit sign, and is one of the main methods that scientists use to discover exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system.
“The TESS mission was designed to discover thousands of exoplanets this way,” NASA told Snopes. “Using data from TESS, as did the authors of this study, scientists found planets ranging from small, rocky worlds to giant planets.”
According to the paper setting out the research behind the discovery, “TOI-1846b is a super-Earth-sized planet, with a radius of about 1.8R⊕, placing it in the area of the intriguing radius valley of exoplanet sizes.”
NASA defined “super-Earth” as “unlike anything in our solar system, they are 2 to 10 times the mass of Earth, but smaller than Neptune, and may be made of gas, rock or a mixture of both.” The researchers said their discovery “likely has a water-rich mass composition based on its radius.”
In addition, NASA explained the “radius valley” as “what seems to be a strange void in the sizes of the planet” that can have an impact on the type of terrain the characteristics of the planet, such as “rocky super-earths, and the most substantial, gasrich mini-Neptunes,” according to the research paper. NASA also noted that “it will require a much better understanding of how planetary systems form” to fully explain the said radius valley.
According to a report on the discovery by the science website Earth.com“the combination of size and weight” on TOI-1846b “gives it a density lighter than solid rock but heavier than planets with thick, gaseous envelopes.”
In addition, the report from the discovery team stated, “Such planets are relatively rare, and their study can provide vital clues about planet formation and evolution processes.”
The report also stated that M dwarf stars, such as the one orbiting TOI-1846b, are “promising candidates for the search for small and moderate exoplanets using transit methods” because “the transit signal is significantly more pronounced than that of similar planets orbiting Sun-like stars, making such planets easier to find and characterize.”
According to NASA, exoplanets are divided into four categories: “Gas giant, Neptunian, super-Earth, and terrestrial.” NASA Exoplanet Archive stated that there are more than 6,000 exoplanets confirmed, with 725 of those confirmed by TESS from the satellite. launched in April 2018.
The Exoplanet Archive does not currently list TOI-1846b, but a NASA spokesperson said “there may be a slight delay in updates” to the site.
Sources:
Exoplanets – NASA Science. 7 June 2023, https://science.nasa.gov/exoplanets/.
“NASA Discovers ‘super-Earth’ with Possible Oceans Orbiting Nearby Red Dwarf Star.” Earth.Com, https://www.earth.com/news/super-earth-toi-1846-b-possible-oceans-discovered-orbiting-red-dwarf-star/. Accessed 16 July 2025.
NASA Exoplanet Archive. https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/. Accessed 16 July 2025.
Nowakowski, Tomasz and Phys.org. Astronomers Discover Super-Earth Exoplanet Orbiting Nearby Star. https://phys.org/news/2025-07-astronomers-super-earth-exoplanet-orbiting.html. Accessed 16 July 2025.
Soubkiou, Abderahmane, et al. TOI-1846b: A Super-Earth in the Radio Valley Orbiting Nearf M Dwarf. arXiv:2506.18550, arXiv, 23 June 2025. arXiv.org, https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2506.18550.
TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) – NASA Science. 22 Apr. 2025, https://science.nasa.gov/mission/tess/.
What is Transit? – NASA Science. 27 April 2020, https://science.nasa.gov/exoplanets/whats-a-transit/.