The planets were discovered by the transit method, which detects potential planets as their orbits cross in front of their star and cause a very tiny but periodic dimming of the star's brightness. (sciencedaily.com)
GJ 1214 b was discovered by the MEarth Project, a campaign using eight amateur - size telescopes to monitor nearby M dwarfs for periodic dimming caused by transiting planets. (scientificamerican.com)
The articles in the pilot study focused on the 1996 discovery of possibly fossilized extraterrestrial Martian microbes; the 2015 discovery of periodic dimming around Tabby's Star, thought to indicate the presence of an artificially constructed «Dyson sphere;» and the 2017 discovery of Earth - like exoplanets in the habitable zone of a star. (sciencedaily.com)