NASA's TESS Spacecraft Releases Most Complete All-Sky Mosaic Image
Summary: NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) releases its most complete all-sky mosaic, integrating all 96 observation sectors from April 2018 to September 2025, covering approximately 83 million stars in the northern hemisphere.
Mosaic Composition
The TESS all-sky mosaic is composed of all 96 observation sectors recorded between April 2018 and September 2025. Each sector corresponds to approximately 27 days of continuous observation of a sky region by the TESS cameras. The blue data points represent approximately 700 confirmed exoplanets, including exotic objects such as planets being destroyed.
Scientific Significance
TESS Project Scientist Allison Youngblood stated: "The larger the TESS dataset, especially when dug into using automated algorithms, the more surprises we find. In addition to confirmed exoplanets, TESS continues to discover more candidate targets."
Scientists used machine learning techniques to analyze TESS data at scale, identifying over 10,000 candidate exoplanets as of September 2025, more than doubling the known number of exoplanets.
TESS launched in April 2018. Its second mission extension concluded in September 2025. TESS's successors will be the Luvoir telescope and the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, both expected to continue the exoplanet search in the 2030s.