The next stop on NASA’s never-ending journey to find habitable planets in outer space has officially begun. When the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite or TESS was launched into space around three months ago, the goal was for it to monitor the brightness of nearby stars in a search for exoplanets that exist around some of the closest stars to earth. Now its functionality officially begins, as every 13.5 days it will complete an orbit and radio its findings back to NASA headquarters.
The way TESS will search for exoplanets is through its cameras and sensors monitoring fluctuations in light around nearby stars. When the light of the star dips, that serves as a potential indication that a planet has passed the star and blocks the luminescence. Through this tactical and simple method, TESS is expected to find thousands of exoplanets in the next two years of monitoring it will do.
TESS is equipped with four wide-angle cameras that have an astounding view-range of 85 percent of its surroundings. Its orbit distance pushes it as far away from earth as the moon and its technology, according to Space.com TESS will be able to stay in the sky for decades if it needs to. The job of TESS was originally held by the Keplar spacecraft, which had found over 2,000 exoplanets during its journey. The only difference is that TESS monitors stars much closer and with more accuracy, so scientists and researchers will be able to decipher even more information about these elusive exoplanets.
