Endless Stars... Endless Planets... Endless Dreamers...
What do you see? Sometimes if you just get a brand new looking glass, a whole universe of new possibilities appears. That's what NASA, MIT, and SpaceX are making a reality by launching NASA's new TESS satellite into orbit with the goal of discovering many new worlds in our own Milky Way Galaxy. During the next two years TESS will scan the 200,000 or so nearest and brightest stars to Earth for telltale dimming signs caused when exoplanets cross their host stars.
Would you like to know how many planets are in our own Galactic back yard? I'm first on the list of people who are very excited to see the real results of NASA's new mission. The goal for TESS is to characterize many newly found planets, star systems and the characteristics that make up a diverse new universe of possibilities. In particular atmospheric compositions and the break down of elemental abundances via light spectral analysis will give us clues that will reveal many details about each world's climate, history, and the possibility that life could exist. The Kavli Foundation spoke with two scientists about the TESS mission to get an inside look at the development and about the goals of the project.
From the early results of the Kepler Mission we know that TESS is expected to discover many thousands of new worlds, there should be hundreds ranging in size from about one to two times Earth and many larger planets. Smaller rocky planets serve as prime targets, super earths tend to show up in multiples as well, discovering new diverse populations of planets will be the main objective of the mission. Detailed follow-up observations by other ground based telescopes such as the Keck Telescope in Hawaii will reveal atmospheric compositions of these worlds in new and in depth ways. There is nothing more exciting than being on the verge of making history and illuminating our understanding of the intimate details and workings of our universe.
By,
JLC
What do you see? Sometimes if you just get a brand new looking glass, a whole universe of new possibilities appears. That's what NASA, MIT, and SpaceX are making a reality by launching NASA's new TESS satellite into orbit with the goal of discovering many new worlds in our own Milky Way Galaxy. During the next two years TESS will scan the 200,000 or so nearest and brightest stars to Earth for telltale dimming signs caused when exoplanets cross their host stars.
Would you like to know how many planets are in our own Galactic back yard? I'm first on the list of people who are very excited to see the real results of NASA's new mission. The goal for TESS is to characterize many newly found planets, star systems and the characteristics that make up a diverse new universe of possibilities. In particular atmospheric compositions and the break down of elemental abundances via light spectral analysis will give us clues that will reveal many details about each world's climate, history, and the possibility that life could exist. The Kavli Foundation spoke with two scientists about the TESS mission to get an inside look at the development and about the goals of the project.
From the early results of the Kepler Mission we know that TESS is expected to discover many thousands of new worlds, there should be hundreds ranging in size from about one to two times Earth and many larger planets. Smaller rocky planets serve as prime targets, super earths tend to show up in multiples as well, discovering new diverse populations of planets will be the main objective of the mission. Detailed follow-up observations by other ground based telescopes such as the Keck Telescope in Hawaii will reveal atmospheric compositions of these worlds in new and in depth ways. There is nothing more exciting than being on the verge of making history and illuminating our understanding of the intimate details and workings of our universe.
By,
JLC
No comments:
Post a Comment