TESS

Photo of Sara Seager in front of a chalkboard covered in equations

Professor and astrophysicist Sara Seager appointed officer to the Order of Canada

Pioneer in exoplanet research helped transform the burgeoning field into one of the fastest-growing and most exciting in space science.

December 23, 2020

a planet in orbit around its star with the digits of Pi encircling the planet

Astronomers discover an Earth-sized “pi planet” with a 3.14-day orbit

The rocky world, with its baking-hot surface, is likely not habitable.

September 21, 2020

In our solar system, the “ice giants” Neptune and Uranus are far less dense than rocky Venus and Earth. But astrophysicists on NASA’s TESS mission have now found an exoplanet, TOI-849b, that appears to be 40 times more massive than Earth, yet just as dense. This illustration depicts the exoplanet, UCF-1.01. Like TOI-849b, this exoplanet also orbits close to a star and is like “hot Neptune....

TESS mission discovers massive ice giant

Neptune-sized planet may be remnant core of a much larger planet.

July 1, 2020

Members and supporters of MIT Lincoln Laboratory's Hispanic/Latino Network gather with Natalia Guerrero (sixth from left) after her keynote address.

Lincoln Laboratory welcomes Natalia Guerrero for Hispanic Heritage Month event

MIT Kavli Institute researcher working on the TESS mission gave the keynote address at an annual event organized by the Lincoln Laboratory Hispanic/Latino Network.

November 7, 2019

Worlds orbiting stars other than our sun are “exoplanets,” and they come in many sizes, from gas giants larger than Jupiter to small, rocky planets. This illustration of a "super-Earth" represents the type of planet that the TESS mission aims to find outside our solar system.

Computing and the search for new planets

MIT planetary scientists partner with computer scientists to find exoplanets.

September 23, 2019

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite is inspected before its launch in April 2018. Approximately 250 MIT scientists and engineers are included as recipients of the NASA Silver Achievement Medal for their role in the TESS mission.

TESS team is awarded NASA's Silver Achievement Medal

The honor recognizes the "stellar achievement" of the people behind the exoplanet-seeking satellite.

September 12, 2019

The Lorelei Ensemble performs in "Songs from Extrasolar Spaces: Music Inspired by TESS" on July 30 in MIT's Kresge Auditorium.

The music of the spheres

MIT hosts "Songs from Extrasolar Spaces," a musical melding of art and science inspired by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).

August 9, 2019

This infographic illustrates key features of the TOI 270 system, located about 73 light-years away in the southern constellation Pictor.

TESS discovers three new planets nearby, including temperate “sub-Neptune”

Planetary system orbiting an unusually quiet star is ideal for future habitability searches.

July 29, 2019

Artemis searches the Northern Hemisphere sky for exoplanets.

3Q: Julien de Wit on searching for red worlds in the northern skies

MIT has completed the installation of its newest exoplanet-hunting telescope, Artemis, in the Canary Islands, joining the SPECULOOS network.

June 20, 2019

MIT Kavli Institute director Jacqueline Hewitt stands with a prototype of one of the four cameras aboard the Transiting Exoplanet Satellite Survey (TESS) instrument. Hewitt, who has overseen the TESS mission from NASA proposal to satellite launch in April, will step down as Kavli Institute director in January.

Jacqueline Hewitt to step down as director of the MIT Kavli Institute

Physics professor brought leadership, resources, and an intellectual focus to the MIT astrophysics faculty and research staff during 15 years at the helm.

November 29, 2018