NASA's exoplanet-hunting telescope spies 8 'super-Earths'

Color illustration of a rocky planet on the left and a portion of a much-larger star on the right. About three-quarters of the lit side of the planet is visible; the other quarter is in shadow. The surface of the planet has gray, orange, and yellow mottling. Most of the orange and yellow is in the region that is facing the star directly. The grayer portions are toward the poles and shadowed side of the planet. The edge of the disc of the planet appears to be glowing, suggesting a thin atmosphere. The star is bright orange-yellow, with a turbulent appearance similar to the Sun.

Almost everyday, the number of confirmed exoplanet discoveries grows. 

The majority of those planets, which sit just above 5,500 in total, have been identified by the Kepler space telescope. But for the last few years, NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has been steadily adding new alien worlds to our growing planetary catalog of the cosmos.