– TESS detects exoplanets by monitoring brightness changes of stars over roughly month-long sky observations.
– A set of 96 observations (2018–2025) has yielded nearly 6,000 exoplanets, with about 700 confirmed (blue) and over 5,000 candidates (orange).
– The mission has found a wide range of planets, from Mercury-sized to larger than Jupiter, including some in the habitable zone.
– This work advances the search for life beyond Earth, though further studies are needed to confirm and understand these worlds.
If life exists on Earth, no one know if it exists elsewhere in the universe. To answer this question, several missions have been launched over the years, like NASA’s TESS satellite, which recently released an image showing nearly 6,000 exoplanets.
Mission scope
This satellite has powerful instruments, and to detect these new worlds, it observes large regions of space for about a month, letting astronomers detect changes in the brightness of various stars.
Observation cadence
As a result, astronomers combined 96 observations made by this satellite between April 2018 and September 2025, allowing them to discover nearly 6,000 new worlds. Thus, in this image, the blue dots represent approximately 700 confirmed exoplanets. Each of these worlds is unique, and some even orbit two stars. As for the orange dots, they represent more than 5,000 potential exoplanets. In addition, the Milky Way is also visible at the center of this image.
Attribution and numbers
Therefore, the work of TESS is very important, as Rebekah Hounsell, a TESS associate project scientist at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, notes.
Expert perspective
Over the last eight years, TESS has become a fire hose of exoplanet science. It has helped us find planets of all different sizes, from Mercury-like ones to those larger than Jupiter. Some of them are in the habitable zone, where liquid water might be possible on the surface, an important factor in our search for life beyond Earth.
Impact and outlook
Thus, the discovery of these new worlds could shed light on an important mystery. However, further studies will be needed to find answers.
NASA Science
Image source: NASA Hubble Space Telescope, Unsplash, NASA/MIT/TESS and Veselin Kostov (University of Maryland College Park)
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