NASA's Planet-Hunting Tess Satellite Sends Back Its First Stunning Images Of Deep Space
On April 18 earlier this year, NASA launched the TESS satellite into space, and into an orbit flying past our Moon. It¡¯s job is to capture images of faraway alien planets. And TESS just sent back its first images of deep space.
On April 18 earlier this year, NASA launched the TESS satellite into space, and into an orbit flying past our Moon.
It¡¯s job is to capture images of alien planets far beyond our reach (at least for now). And TESS just sent back its first images of deep space.
Images courtesy: NASA
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is Kepler¡¯s successor, and has been tasked with discovering exoplanets by monitoring how the light reaching us from distant stars is blocked by these planets¡¯ orbits. Back in May, Tess snapped a two-second exposure shot that was a simple test of its working condition. Now, NASA has released a longer 30-minute photo from August 7, which has been stitched together from the onboard cameras, and it is sensational.
The picture shows a dozen different constellations, Small and Large Magellanic clouds, dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way, and more. Most importantly though, it depicts a multitude of stars that could house planets we¡¯ve never seen before.
¡°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,¡± says TESS principal investigator George Ricker.
Click here for the full resolution image
This ¡°first light¡± image is only one of the 26 different sectors of the sky TESS is expected to monitor over the next two years. Each sector will receive the satellite¡¯s attention for 27 days, over the course of the two-year mission.
