NASA's Planet-Hunting Spacecraft Begins Its Search
- 6 years ago
NASA's Planet-Hunting Spacecraft Begins Its Search The space observatory called TESS was launched into orbit by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. TESS has been in space for just over three months. It officially began its
operations on July 25th. TESS's main job is to look for planets outside our solar system. Specifically, TESS is looking for planets orbiting stars that are closest to Earth. It does this by detecting when the light from a distant star dims slightly. Scientists view the dimming light of a distant star as a sign that a planet may be passing between it and the earth. Researchers are hoping
to find out all they can
about these "exoplanets." TESS and its four cameras TESS's Earth orbit takes 13.7 days to complete and pushes it as far away from the earth as the moon. Stephen Rinehart, TESS project scientist at NASA, via The Verge
operations on July 25th. TESS's main job is to look for planets outside our solar system. Specifically, TESS is looking for planets orbiting stars that are closest to Earth. It does this by detecting when the light from a distant star dims slightly. Scientists view the dimming light of a distant star as a sign that a planet may be passing between it and the earth. Researchers are hoping
to find out all they can
about these "exoplanets." TESS and its four cameras TESS's Earth orbit takes 13.7 days to complete and pushes it as far away from the earth as the moon. Stephen Rinehart, TESS project scientist at NASA, via The Verge