Universe  ID: 14265

TESS 2022 Sky Views

NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is an Explorer-class mission, operated by MIT, that is designed to detect planets passing in front of, or transiting, their host stars. Launched in 2018, TESS completed its primary mission in July 2020 and is now operating in its second extended mission.

The mosaics on these pages combine hundreds of images from all 24°-by-90° sectors surveyed through October 2022, illustrating the mission's progress in mapping the sky. By then, TESS had discovered 266 exoplanets and more than 4,258 candidates.

Prominent features in these images include the Milky Way, a glowing arc that represents the bright central plane of our galaxy, and the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds – satellite galaxies of our own located, respectively, 160,000 and 200,000 light-years away. In the northern sky, look for the small, oblong shape of the Andromeda galaxy (M 31), the closest big spiral galaxy, located 2.5 million light-years away.
 

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Credits

Francis Reddy (University of Maryland College Park): Science Writer
Ethan Kruse (University of Maryland College Park): Lead Visualizer
Scott Wiessinger (KBR Wyle Services, LLC): Producer
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. However, individual items should be credited as indicated above.

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14265

Mission:
TESS

This item is part of this series:
Astrophysics Stills

Keywords:
SVS >> Galaxy
SVS >> Astrophysics
SVS >> Universe
SVS >> Space
SVS >> Star
NASA Science >> Universe
SVS >> Exoplanet
SVS >> TESS