Three Earth-sized Planets Found in TOI-2267 Binary

An international team using NASA’s TESS has discovered three Earth-sized planets in the compact binary system TOI-2267, about 190 light-years away. Two planets transit one star while the third transits the companion, making TOI-2267 the first known binary with transiting planets around both components and the coldest, most compact binary known to host exoplanets. The detection began in TESS data and was aided by the SHERLOCK software developed by ULiège and IAA‑CSIC; the planetary nature was confirmed through an intensive ground-based follow-up campaign including SPECULOOS and TRAPPIST. The discovery was published in Astronomy & Astrophysics and reported by researchers including Sebastián Zúñiga‑Fernández and Francisco J. Pozuelos. The finding challenges models that predicted compact binaries were too dynamically unstable for planet formation and provides a laboratory to study rocky planet formation under extreme conditions.