Mission Overview
Map of Observations
Wavelength Coverage
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is an all-sky transit survey, whose principal goal is to detect Earth-sized planets orbiting bright stars that are amenable to follow-up observations to determine planet masses and atmospheric compositions. TESS will conduct high-precision photometry of more than 200,000 stars during a two-year mission with a cadence of approximately 2 minutes. These targets will be read-out as postage stamps and be made available to the community as target pixel files (TPFs) and calibrated light curves. In addition, the full image frame will be read out approximately every 30 minutes. These Full Frame Images (FFIs) will enable users to conduct photometry on any target within the 24x96 degree field-of-view.
Active From
April 2018 - Present
Resolution
21 arcseconds / pixel
Capabilities
- Time Series
- Photometry
- Imaging
Data Availability
Consult the Data Holdings Table to know which Sectors are available in MAST services and interfaces.
Documentation
TESS Archive Manual
December 6, 2018
The TESS Archive Manual website containing data product overviews, summaries of MAST tools, and tutorials on how to interact with TESS data at MAST.
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MAST Portal
Download light curves, target pixel files, and data validation files for a few targets. Download full frame images for a few CCDs. Conduct small searches within the TIC or CTL. Find data from other missions for your target.
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exo.MAST
Find MAST data (including TESS) for known planets or TCE's, matched to orbital phase. Plot sector-stitched DV light curves. Access exoplanet parameters with references.
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MAST Astroquery
Search for, and retrieve, TESS data products programmatically based on a list of coordinates or target names. Interact with observational data, TIC, and CTL catalogs in programs you write.
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TESScut
Create time series pixel cutouts from the TESS full frame images. Find out what sectors/cameras/detectors a target was observed in.
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Bulk Downloads
Download all light curves or target pixel files for a given sector or GI program. Download all full frame images for a given sector. Download the entire TCE table for a given sector. Download versions of the TIC and CTL.
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Cloud Access
Access TESS data in TIKE, our free cloud computing environment that runs in your browser using JupyterLab. There's no need to download and analyze terabytes of data on your computer; instead, get started right away with quick data access and pre-installed software. Calibrated and uncalibrated full-frame images, two-minute cadence target pixel and light curve files, co-trending basis vectors, and FFI cubes are all available.
