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NASA's planetary hunter, TESS, has begun to provide data on planets beyond our solar system.
The file collected on the initial TESS orbit includes a detailed picture of the southern sky.
This "first light" photo, taken with the four wide-field spacecraft cameras for a 30-minute period on August 7, captures an abundance of stars, as well as other objects, some of which were known to have exoplanets .
"In a sea of stars brimming with new worlds, TESS is throwing a wide net and will carry a host of promising planets for further study," said Paul Hertz, director of the astrophysics division at the headquarters of NASA in Washington.
The Exoplanets in Transit (TESS) survey satellite took this snapshot of the great Magellan cloud (right) and the bright star R Doradus (left) (via NASA / MIT / TESS)
"This first image in light science shows the capabilities of the TESS cameras," he continued, "and shows that the mission will realize its incredible potential in our search for another Earth."
This large cloud of light on the right side is the Great Magellanic Cloud, and the bright spot to the left of it is the red giant Mira variable star of R Doradus. North, you'll find Alpha Reticuli, the brightest star in the southern circumpolar constellation Reticulum.
"This part of the southern hemisphere of the sky includes more than a dozen stars that we know have transiting planets," said George Ricker, principal investigator at the MIT Kavli Institute of Astrophysics and Research. Space.
Sent in April aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida, TESS will spend two years mapping the sky, looking for a transit, a phenomenon that occurs when airborne. a planet passes in front of its luminous star.
NASA's Kepler Space Observatory used the same method to detect more than 2,600 confirmed exoplanets, most of them in orbit between 300 and 3,000 light-years.
In its first years of operation, the satellite will study 13 sectors that make up the southern sky; TESS will turn to the 13 sectors of the northern sky for its second year of study.
The James Webb Space Telescope and other observatories will use spectroscopy to learn more about the planets discovered by TESS. The satellite has also initiated the observations requested as part of the TESS Guest Investigator program, which allows the global scientific community to conduct research using the spacecraft.
A new report recently called on NASA to improve its quest for exoplanets, hoping to find earth-like worlds that could support life. The US space program last week announced good news regarding the exoplanet Proxima b. Learn more about exoplanets here.
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