NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Chasing Shadows in the Night: How NASA's Kepler and TESS Missions Are Revolutionizing Exoplanet ScienceThe first planet outside our own solar system was discovered almost thirty years ago in an extremely unlikely place, orbiting a pulsar, and the first exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star was discovered nearly 26 years ago. In the time since, we’ve detected over 5000 planets and over 75% of these have been detected by transit surveys.

The Kepler Mission, launched in 2009, has found the lion’s share of these exoplanets, and demonstrated that each star in the night sky has, on average, at least one planet. Kepler’s success spurred NASA and ESA to select several exoplanet-themed missions to move the field of exoplanet science forward from discovery to characterization: How do these planets form and evolve? What is the structure and composition of the atmospheres and interiors of these planets? Can we detect biomarkers in the atmospheres of these planets and learn the answer to the fundamental question, are we alone?

NASA selected the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) in 2014 to conduct a nearly all-sky survey for transiting planets with the goal of identifying at least 50 small planets with measured masses that can be followed up by large telescopic assets, such as the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope. TESS has discovered 266 exoplanets so far, 100 of which are smaller than earth with measured masses. In this talk I will describe how we detect weak transit signatures in noisy but beautiful transit survey data sets and present some of the most compelling discoveries made so far by Kepler and TESS.
Document ID
20220017489
Acquisition Source
Ames Research Center
Document Type
Presentation
Authors
Jon M. Jenkins
(Ames Research Center Mountain View, California, United States)
Date Acquired
November 19, 2022
Subject Category
Aeronautics (General)
Geophysics
Astronomy
Meeting Information
Meeting: Guest Lecture at Amity University
Location: Noida
Country: IN
Start Date: March 21, 2023
Sponsors: Amity University
Funding Number(s)
WBS: 985788.09.04.01
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Portions of document may include copyright protected material.
Technical Review
NASA Peer Committee
Keywords
TESS
SPOC
No Preview Available