(MENAFN) A global team of astronomers led by Turkish PhD candidate Selcuk Yalcinkaya has discovered four new exoplanets, including one that lies within the inner edge of its star’s habitable zone and may possess an atmosphere. The planets are located approximately 90 light-years from Earth.

The findings, part of Yalcinkaya’s doctoral thesis on the “discovery and validation of four super-Earth to Neptune-sized planets around M dwarfs,” were published in the October 2025 issue of Astronomy & Astrophysics, one of the leading journals in the field.

Yalcinkaya, a research assistant in astronomy and space sciences at Ankara University, received funding from TÜBİTAK through its International Research Fellowship Program for PhD students and conducted part of his work at the University of Liège in Belgium.

The discoveries were made in collaboration with an international team, including a Nobel laureate, using transit and radial velocity methods, which are standard in exoplanet detection. The four planets orbit three stars: TOI-5799 (two planets), TOI-1743, and TOI-6223, with one planet, TOI-5799c, situated in the habitable zone of TOI-5799.

“The planets we discovered were initially identified as candidates by the TESS Space Telescope,” Yalcinkaya told Anadolu. Ground-based observations using the AU Kreiken Observatory and the Turkish National Observatory helped confirm which stars were emitting the signals and validated the planetary nature of the objects.

This discovery highlights Türkiye’s growing role in international astronomical research and the potential for identifying worlds that could support life beyond our solar system.

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