TESS

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

This test image from one of the four cameras aboard the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) captures a swath of the southern sky along the plane of our galaxy. More than 200,000 stars are visible. The image, which is centered in the constellation Centaurus, includes dark tendrils from the Coal Sack Nebula and the bright emission nebula Ced 122 (upper right).The bright star at bottom cente...

TESS takes initial test image

Exoplanet-seeking satellite developed by MIT swings by moon toward final orbit.

May 18, 2018

An artist concept depicts TESS in front of a lava planet orbiting its host star.

Ushering in the next phase of exoplanet discovery

Professor Sara Seager previews a new era of discovery as a leader of the TESS mission, which is expected to find some 20,000 extrasolar planets.

May 3, 2018

A set of flight camera electronics on one of the TESS cameras, developed by the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research (MKI), will transmit exoplanet data from the camera to a computer aboard the spacecraft that will process it before transmitting it back to scientists on Earth.

TESS readies for takeoff

Satellite developed by MIT aims to discover thousands of nearby exoplanets, including at least 50 Earth-sized ones.

April 12, 2018

Five new planets have been discovered outside our solar system, all orbiting a sun-like star located within the constellation Aquarius, nearly 620 light years from Earth. The alien worlds are considered super-Earths, sizing in at two to three times larger than our own blue planet.

Citizen scientists discover five tightly packed exoplanets

The planetary system’s dense configuration gives clues to its formation

January 11, 2018

Engineers test one of the TESS cameras at the Kavli Institute lab.

TESS mission to discover new planets moves toward launch

Satellite’s cameras have been delivered by MIT researchers and passed NASA inspection.

August 4, 2017

An artist’s impression of the newly-discovered rocky exoplanet, LHS 1140b, located in the liquid water habitable zone surrounding its host star, a small, faint red star named LHS 1140. The planet weighs about 6.6 times the mass of Earth and is shown passing in front of LHS 1140. Depicted in blue is the atmosphere the planet may have retained.

Another potentially habitable extrasolar planet discovered

Some 40 light-years away, "super-Earth" identified as new target for atmospheric study.

April 21, 2017

A volunteer from Lincoln Laboratory helps students program Instagram-style filters.

Girls Who Build Cameras workshop sparks future engineers

High school girls learn to construct cameras and program image filters at Lincoln Laboratory event.

July 12, 2016

In this artist's rendering of GJ 1132b, a rocky exoplanet very similar to Earth in size and mass, circles a red dwarf star. GJ 1132b is relatively cool (about 450 degrees F) and could potentially host an atmosphere. At a distance of only 39 light-years, it will be a prime target for additional study with Hubble and future observatories like the Giant Magellan Telescope.

New exoplanet in our neighborhood

Though likely uninhabitable, planet is rocky, Earth-sized, and near enough for study of its atmosphere.

November 11, 2015

The Kavli Foundation President Robert Conn and Executive Vice President for Science Programs Miyoung Chun join MIT Kavli Institute Director Jacqueline Hewitt and MIT Dean of Science Michael Sipser for a 10th-anniversary celebration.

Celebrating 10 years of the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research at MIT

August 4, 2015

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