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The Transiting Exoplanet
Survey Satellite (TESS) took this snapshot of the Large Magellanic Cloud
(right) and the bright star R Doradus (left) with just a single detector of one
of its cameras on Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2018. The frame is part of a swath of the
southern sky TESS captured in its “first light” science image as part of its
initial round of data collection. Credits:
NASA/MIT/TESS
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Ken Kremer
-- SpaceUpClose.com -- 18 September 2018
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – NASA’s recently launched Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) exoplant hunter has transmitted its capturing a wealth of stars that now starts the search aimed at discovering hordes of planets beyond our solar system – some of which will surely be conducive to life.
TESS is charged with searching for and discovering new Earth and Super Earth sized planets beyond our Solar System that orbit their host stars inside the habitable zones that offer conditions conducive to the origin and evolution of life.
TESS acquired the “first light” science images using all four cameras during a 30-minute period on Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2018 - as shown above and below.
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL – NASA’s recently launched Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) exoplant hunter has transmitted its capturing a wealth of stars that now starts the search aimed at discovering hordes of planets beyond our solar system – some of which will surely be conducive to life.
TESS is charged with searching for and discovering new Earth and Super Earth sized planets beyond our Solar System that orbit their host stars inside the habitable zones that offer conditions conducive to the origin and evolution of life.
TESS acquired the “first light” science images using all four cameras during a 30-minute period on Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2018 - as shown above and below.
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The Transiting Exoplanet
Survey Satellite (TESS) took this snapshot of the Large Magellanic Cloud
(right) and the bright star R Doradus (left) with just a single detector of one
of its cameras on Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2018. The frame is part of a swath of the
southern sky TESS captured in its “first light” science image as part of its
initial round of data collection. Credits:
NASA/MIT/TESS
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“This first light science image shows the
capabilities of TESS’ cameras, and shows that the mission will realize its incredible
potential in our search for another Earth” said Paul Hertz, astrophysics
division director at NASA Headquarters in Washington, in a statement.
Some exoplanets have already been discovered by previously searches of systems included in this “first light” swath of the sky.
“This swath of the sky’s southern hemisphere includes more than a dozen stars we know have transiting planets based on previous studies from ground observatories,” said George Ricker, TESS principal investigator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research in Cambridge.
One can expect that brand new exoplanet discoveries are sure to be announced by the science team soon.
“In a sea of stars brimming with new worlds, TESS is casting a wide net and will haul in a bounty of promising planets for further study,” says Hertz.
Thus begins an initial 2-year long mission during which TESS will gradually sweep across the entire sky and conduct a full sky survey by monitoring and investigating over 200,000 of the nearest and brightest stars to search for planets outside our solar system.
The full sky survey from TESS’ initial science orbit begins with detailed image and data gathering in the southern sky - as all four of the spacecraft’s wide-field cameras work in tandem and gradually sweep across a full 360 degree panoramic view.
The lead image above was captured with just a single detector of one of its cameras on Tuesday, Aug. 7. It shows the Large Magellanic Cloud (right) and the bright star R Doradus (left). The star is so bright it saturated an entire column of pixels in the detector “creating long spikes of light.”
The full four camera image taken on Aug. 7 is shown below and annotated to identify certain stars and galaxies.
Some exoplanets have already been discovered by previously searches of systems included in this “first light” swath of the sky.
“This swath of the sky’s southern hemisphere includes more than a dozen stars we know have transiting planets based on previous studies from ground observatories,” said George Ricker, TESS principal investigator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research in Cambridge.
One can expect that brand new exoplanet discoveries are sure to be announced by the science team soon.
“In a sea of stars brimming with new worlds, TESS is casting a wide net and will haul in a bounty of promising planets for further study,” says Hertz.
Thus begins an initial 2-year long mission during which TESS will gradually sweep across the entire sky and conduct a full sky survey by monitoring and investigating over 200,000 of the nearest and brightest stars to search for planets outside our solar system.
The full sky survey from TESS’ initial science orbit begins with detailed image and data gathering in the southern sky - as all four of the spacecraft’s wide-field cameras work in tandem and gradually sweep across a full 360 degree panoramic view.
The lead image above was captured with just a single detector of one of its cameras on Tuesday, Aug. 7. It shows the Large Magellanic Cloud (right) and the bright star R Doradus (left). The star is so bright it saturated an entire column of pixels in the detector “creating long spikes of light.”
The full four camera image taken on Aug. 7 is shown below and annotated to identify certain stars and galaxies.
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The Transiting Exoplanet
Survey Satellite (TESS) captured this strip of stars and galaxies in the
southern sky during one 30-minute period on Tuesday, Aug. 7. Created by
combining the view from all four of its cameras, this is TESS’ “first light,”
from the first observing sector that will be used for identifying planets
around other stars. Notable features in this swath of the southern sky include
the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds and a globular cluster called NGC 104,
also known as 47 Tucanae. The brightest stars in the image, Beta Gruis and R
Doradus, saturated an entire column of camera detector pixels on the
satellite’s second and fourth cameras. Drag the slider back and forth to see
the labeled and unlabeled versions of the image.
Credits: NASA/MIT/TESS
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Note that the black lines in the image are gaps
between the camera detectors - because they do not overlay.
Portions of more than a dozen constellations were captured in these “first light” science images, “from Capricornus to Pictor, and both the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, the galaxies nearest to our own,” according to the team.
“The small bright dot above the Small Magellanic Cloud is a globular cluster — a spherical collection of hundreds of thousands of stars — called NGC 104, also known as 47 Tucanae because of its location in the southern constellation Tucana, the Toucan. Two stars, Beta Gruis and R Doradus, are so bright they saturate an entire column of pixels on the detectors of TESS’s second and fourth cameras, creating long spikes of light.”
Portions of more than a dozen constellations were captured in these “first light” science images, “from Capricornus to Pictor, and both the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, the galaxies nearest to our own,” according to the team.
“The small bright dot above the Small Magellanic Cloud is a globular cluster — a spherical collection of hundreds of thousands of stars — called NGC 104, also known as 47 Tucanae because of its location in the southern constellation Tucana, the Toucan. Two stars, Beta Gruis and R Doradus, are so bright they saturate an entire column of pixels on the detectors of TESS’s second and fourth cameras, creating long spikes of light.”
Video Caption: This animation shows how the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will study 85 percent of the sky in 26 sectors. The spacecraft will observe the 13 sectors that make up the southern sky in the first year and the 13 sectors of the northern sky in the second year. Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
NASA’s groundbreaking TESS exoplanet hunting mission began science gathering after reaching its final orbit and completing the spacecraft commissioning phase about two months ago in late July 2018.
“All hardware is fabulous” and its quartet of “cameras are working great” said spacecraft builder Northrop Grumman’s Robert Lockwood in an exclusive interview with Space UpClose.
And to top it all off, TESS science ops should be long lived because the ship is fuel rich ! with “multiple decades of fuel remaining,” Lockwood told Space UpClose in an interview in July.
But before it could start its planet hunting science TESS first had to reach its desired final P/2 resonant science orbit – and the MIT/Northrop Grumman team completed a thorough test and check out of all spacecraft systems, subsystems and instruments.
TESS arrived at the P/2 resonant science orbit, which is stable and highly elliptical, after completing a lunar gravity assist flyby in mid-May and its final thruster firing maneuver at the end of May.
“Post launch we did all the check-out operations, did three orbit raisings and then a fly-by of the Moon on May 17 - which was super exciting!” Northrop Grumman (formerly Orbital ATK) TESS program manager Robert Lockwood told SpaceUpClose.com in an exclusive interview. Lockwood is based at the TESS mission operations center at Northrop Grumman’s (Orbital ATK) facility in Dulles, VA.
“Then we did the final period-adjust maneuver (PAM) on May 30. It lasted 923 seconds and was our largest maneuver.”
“We checked out all the instruments and completed the entire commissioning procedure of some 152 steps. All the cameras are healthy!
“We entered our first science orbit on July 25.”
“The TESS spacecraft is healthy!” Lockwood told me. “And all the hardware is fabulous.”
“The power and thermal margins are good. It’s been a real pleasure to work with NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) [ to get all the data back].”
“All systems are really GO!”
How are the 4 wide field cameras operating that will detect the exoplanets?
“The cameras are great!”
“Everything that the science team wanted has been running really well with the four cameras,” Lockwood replied.
The principal goal of TESS is to carry out an all sky survey using its four wide-field cameras to detect and discover dozens of new Earth and Super Earth sized exoplanets beyond our Solar System around nearby bright host stars in the solar neighborhood that may be capable of supporting life, and possibly answer one of humanities most profound questions – “Are We Alone?”
After finding the new planets, scientists will conduct follow-up observations with telescopes on Earth and in space like NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to confirm their nature and characterize their composition and atmospheres.
The $337 million spacecraft was built by prime contractor Orbital ATK – now Northrop Grumman.
The kitchen table sized probe weighs 770 pounds (350 kg) and measures 12 x 4 x 5 ft (3.7 x 1.2 x 1.5 m).
P/2 is the name of the TESS mission’s final science orbit.
TESS is NASA’s second exoplanet mission and a follow up to the hugely successful Kepler probe which discovered over 2300 exoplanets of all sizes.
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NASA’s
next planet-hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS),
successfully launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on
April 18, 2018 from Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station,
FL - in this view from a pad camera. TESS will search for new worlds
outside our solar system for further study. Credit:
Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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NASA’s
next planet-hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS),
successfully launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on
April 18, 2018 from Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station,
FL - in this view from a pad camera. TESS will search for new worlds
outside our solar system for further study. Credit:
Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com
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Check out our Space UpClose gallery
of up close clean room, prelaunch and launch photos here and earlier.
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NASA’s TESS Exoplanet hunter being processed by
technicians inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing
Facility clean room on Feb 20, 2018 at the Kennedy Space Center. Launch
on SpaceX Falcon 9 occurred on April 18, 2018. Credit:
Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com
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Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA’s TESS,
SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK and more space and mission
reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station, Florida.
Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing
Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com –
twitter @ken_kremer - ken
at kenkremer.com
Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the
KSC area.
………….
Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events
Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events
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Ken Kremer/SpaceUpClose with the TESS spacecraft inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility clean room
on Feb 20, 2018 at the Kennedy Space Center. Launch on SpaceX Falcon 9
occurred on April 18, 2018. Credit: Ken
Kremer/SpaceUpClose.com/kenkremer.com
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