telescopes optimized for detecting transiting exoplanets. With a tight orbit around its parent star, the planet most likely has no atmosphere and is covered in volcanic rock, according to data from NASA's Spitzer telescope. Their most recent discovery came from data collected in 2018: GPX-TF16E-48 is a 15th-magnitude pair of stars, a white dwarf and K-type main sequence star that orbit each other every 7.1 hours. The Hungarian-made Automated Telescope Network (HATNet) Exoplanet Survey is a geographically distributed network of 7 small telescopes optimized for detecting transiting exoplanets. HATSouth follow-up campaigns are partially supported by NSF grant in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily Benni operated the entire survey from his home observatory, which he calls the Acton Sky Portal. The planets straddle an observed gap in the sizes of known planets and promise to be among the most curious targets for future studies. “Other surveys were looking at brighter stars,” adds Benni. The prime mission ended on July 4, 2020 and TESS is now in an extended mission. Reduction and photometry are done using the software package C-Munipack (currently ver. Each site has two © 2018, The Trustees of Princeton University. The prime mission ended on July 4, 2020 and TESS is now in an extended mission. TESS has now turned its attention to the Northern Hemisphere to complete the most comprehensive planet-hunting expedition ever undertaken. }) NASA's planet counter ticks up to 4,000, then passes it by three, with 31 new discoveries. The Hungarian-made Automated Telescope Network-South HATSouth stations; each station consists of four 180-mm HATNet follow-up campaigns are partially supported by NSF grant HD 21749c is about 89% Earth’s diameter and is 53 light-years away. The race is on to see which of those TESS signals represent some sort of imposter, and which point to real new worlds. NASA's Planet Hunter Completes Its Primary Mission, NASA's TESS Delivers New Insights Into an Ultrahot World, NASA's TESS, Spitzer Missions Discover a World Orbiting a Unique Young Star, Young Giant Planet Offers Clues to Formation of Exotic Worlds, NASA's TESS Enables Breakthrough Study of Perplexing Stellar Pulsations, Discovery Alert: The Rhythmic Dance of a 5-planet System, Discovery Alert! In capturing this giant mosaic, TESS has found 66 new exoplanets. Looks like we are going to have to wait until 'Late 2021' for the Gaia Data Release 3 that should contain a lot of information on the variability of stars. “Other surveys tend to avoid [the galactic plane] or have difficulties in finding transit signals there, as stars tend to blend together in images,” Benni explains. other funding agency. TESS will find upwards of 17,000 planets larger than Neptune. exoplanet transit signal. attempting to determine if the light from a star periodically dims for a Sky & Telescope, Night Sky, and skyandtelescope.org are registered trademarks of AAS Sky Publishing LLC. In its prime mission, a two-year survey of the solar neighborhood, TESS monitored the brightness of stars for periodic drops caused by planet transits. Using readily available commercial equipment, the pair teamed up to survey the sky for exoplanets. The large separation in December 18, 2015, By: Christopher Crockett October 3, 2018. Example: 55 Cancri e, Hot Jupiters, exoplanets that are roughly the same mass as Jupiter (or larger), but which orbit extremely close to their star. method has proven to be enormously successful, and is responsible for a HATSouth development was supported by NSF MRI grant AST-0723074. Exoplanet Survey is a network of 6 astrograph telescope systems