TESS Northern and Southern Mosaics

Familiar stars shine, nebulae glow, and nearby galaxies tantalize in a new panorama of the northern sky assembled from 208 images from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Within this starry scene, TESS has discovered several new exoplanets, and more than 600 candidates awaiting confirmation.The northern mosaic covers less of the sky than its southern counterpart, which was imaged during the mission’s first year of operations. For about half of the northern sectors, the team decided to angle the cameras further north to minimize the impact of scattered light from Earth and the Moon. This results in an obvious gap along the mosaic’s outer edge. TESS has now begun its extended mission, during which it will spend another year imaging the southern sky. The satellite will revisit planets discovered in its first year, discover new worlds, and fill in coverage gaps from its initial survey. Improvements to the satellite’s data collection and processing now allow TESS to return full sector images every 10 minutes and measure the brightness of thousands of stars every 20 seconds all while continuing its previous strategy of measuring the brightness of tens of thousands of stars every two minutes. NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) spent nearly a year imaging the northern sky in its search for worlds beyond our solar system. Explore this panorama to see what TESS has found so far.Credit: NASA others, like Mirfak, produce ghostly smudges as their light reflects off elements of the TESS camera system.Credit: NASA/MIT/TESS and Ethan Kruse (USRA) The center of the TESS northern mosaic is the sky’s north ecliptic pole and marks the center of the mission’s northern continuous viewing zone. This is where TESS sectors overlap for improved sensitivity to transits from planets with shorter and longer orbital periods. TESS discoveries here are ideal for follow-up observations with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in 2021. Targets in the central portion of this zone will be continuously available for observation and monitoring by Webb.Credit: NASA/MIT/TESS and Ethan Kruse (USRA) This animation shows how the 208 images of the TESS northern mosaic fit together. The images of each sector appear in the order TESS captured them. Credit: NASA/MIT/TESS and Ethan Kruse (USRA) For More InformationSee [https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2020/nasa-s-tess-creates-a-cosmic-vista-of-the-northern-sky](https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2020/nasa-s-tess-creates-a-cosmic-vista-of-the-northern-sky)

The glow of the Milky Way arcs across a sea of stars in a new mosaic of the southern sky produced from a year of observations by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Constructed from 208 TESS images taken during the mission’s first year of science operations, completed on July 18, the southern panorama reveals both the beauty of the cosmic landscape and the reach of TESS others, like Rigel, produce ghostly smudges as their light reflects off elements of the TESS camera system.Credit: NASA/MIT/TESS and Ethan Kruse (USRA) The center of the TESS southern mosaic is the sky’s south ecliptic pole and the center of the mission’s southern continuous viewing zone. This is where TESS sectors overlap for improved sensitivity to transits from planets with shorter and longer orbital periods. TESS discoveries here are ideal for follow-up observations with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in 2021. Targets in the central portion of this zone will be continuously available for observation and monitoring by Webb.Credit: NASA/MIT/TESS and Ethan Kruse (USRA) For More InformationSee [https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/nasa-s-tess-presents-panorama-of-southern-sky](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/nasa-s-tess-presents-panorama-of-southern-sky)