More than 200,000 stars appear together in NASA image
NASA's new exoplanet-hunting satellite sends back its first image, centered on part of the constellation Sagittarius.
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Photo taken by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Photo:NASA/MIT/TESS. |
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) sent back its first images as it passed about 8,000 km from the Moon.SpaceTESS was launched into space in April with the mission of searching for exoplanets orbiting stars near the Sun.
The lunar flyby will put TESS into its final science orbit, which is elliptical around Earth, unlike previous spacecraft. "This elliptical orbit maximizes the space over which TESS can image, allowing it to continuously monitor large areas of the sky," NASA said. TESS will fire its engines for the final time on May 30 to reach orbit.
TESS is equipped with four cameras. One of them took the first image of more than 200,000 stars, centered on the constellation Sagittarius. The edge of the Coalsack Nebula is in the upper right corner. Meanwhile, the bright star Beta Centauri appears in the lower left.
Experts expect TESS to cover 400 times more space than this image during its first two-year exoplanet hunt, with the satellite taking a picture in June.
TESS finds exoplanets by looking for changes in light as they pass across the surface of their host stars, similar to the method used by the Kepler space telescope. The satellite will focus on stars close to the Sun, allowing scientists to study newly discovered exoplanets more closely with other instruments, such as NASA’s $8.8 billion James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in 2020.