NASA's TESS spacecraft begins its scientific operations

NASA's exoplanet survey satellite began searching for planets around nearby stars, officially starting its scientific operations on July 25, 2018.

TESS to transmit its first set of data scientists to Earth in August. periodically every 13.5 days, once per orbit, as the spacecraft makes the closest approach to the Earth. The TESS scientific team will start searching for new planets immediately after the arrival of the first set.

"I am delighted that our new planet hunter mission is ready to explore the neighborhood of our solar system for new worlds," said Paul Hertz. , Director, NASA Astrophysics Division, Headquarters, Washington.

"Now that we know that there are more planets than stars in our universe, I look forward to the weird and fantastic worlds we are going to discover."

TESS is NASA's last satellite to search for planets outside our solar system, called exoplanets. The mission will spend the next two years monitoring the closest and brightest stars for periodic dives in their light.

These events, called transits, suggest that a planet can pass in front of its star. TESS should find thousands of planets using this method, some of which could potentially support life.

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x-ray data may be the first evidence from a devouring star A planet

Boston MA (SPX) July 19, 2018


For almost a century, astronomers have been questioning the curious variability of young stars residing in the constellation Taurus-Auriga some 450 light-years from Earth. One star in particular has attracted the attention of astronomers. Every few dozen years, the starlight faded briefly before becoming luminous again.

In recent years, astronomers have observed the gradation of the star more frequently, and for longer periods, raising the following question: What is constantly obscuring the star? The answer, astronomers believe, co … read more