{"id":15792,"date":"2018-03-31T16:32:14","date_gmt":"2018-03-31T20:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=15792"},"modified":"2018-03-31T16:32:14","modified_gmt":"2018-03-31T20:32:14","slug":"videos-tess-to-search-nearby-stars-for-exoplanets-using-ai-to-find-exoplanets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=15792","title":{"rendered":"Videos: TESS to search nearby stars for exoplanets + Using AI to find exoplanets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0space telescope\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tess.gsfc.nasa.gov\/\" target=\"_d\">TESS<\/a> (<em>Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite<\/em>)\u00a0is set to be launched on April 16th on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. TESS will continue the hunt for planets orbiting other stars as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/mission_pages\/kepler\/main\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kepler exoplanet hunter<\/a>&#8216;s mission comes to an end.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/press-release\/nasa-prepares-to-launch-next-mission-to-search-sky-for-new-worlds\" target=\"_d\">NASA Prepares to Launch Next Mission to Search Sky for New Worlds<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Q4KjvPIbgMI?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>NASA\u2019s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/tess-transiting-exoplanet-survey-satellite\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TESS<\/a>) is undergoing final preparations in Florida for its April 16 launch to find undiscovered worlds around nearby stars, providing targets where future studies will assess their capacity to harbor life.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>\u201cOne of the biggest questions in exoplanet exploration is: If an astronomer finds a planet in a star\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/exoplanets.nasa.gov\/resources\/1062\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">habitable zone<\/a>, will it be interesting from a biologist&#8217;s point of view?\u201d said George Ricker, TESS principal investigator at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research in Cambridge, which is leading the mission. \u201cWe expect TESS will discover a number of planets whose atmospheric compositions, which hold potential clues to the presence of life, could be precisely measured by future observers.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>On March 15, the spacecraft passed a review that confirmed it was ready for launch. For final launch preparations, the spacecraft will be fueled and encapsulated within the payload fairing of its SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.<\/p>\n<p>TESS will launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. With the help of a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/solarsystem.nasa.gov\/basics\/primer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">gravitational assist<\/a>\u00a0from the Moon, the spacecraft will settle into a 13.7-day orbit around Earth. Sixty days after launch, and following tests of its instruments, the satellite will begin its initial two-year mission.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/immnIymQoVw?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>At a\u00a0press conference at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., astrophysics experts discussed the upcoming launch of NASA\u2019s next planet hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Four wide-field cameras will give TESS a field-of-view that covers 85 percent of our entire sky. Within this vast visual perspective, the sky has been divided into 26 sectors that TESS will observe one by one. The first year of observations will map the 13 sectors encompassing the southern sky, and the second year will map the 13 sectors of the northern sky.<\/p>\n<p>The spacecraft will be looking for a phenomenon known as a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/thumbnails\/image\/transiting-exoplanet-with-brightness-graph-anim.gif\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">transit<\/a>, where a planet passes in front of its star, causing a periodic and regular dip in the star\u2019s brightness. NASA\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/mission_pages\/kepler\/main\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kepler<\/a>\u00a0spacecraft used the same method to spot more than 2,600 confirmed exoplanets, most of them orbiting faint stars 300 to 3,000 light-years away<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>\u201cWe learned from Kepler that there are more planets than stars in our sky, and now TESS will open our eyes to the variety of planets around some of the closest stars,\u201d said Paul Hertz, Astrophysics Division director at NASA Headquarters. \u201cTESS will cast a wider net than ever before for enigmatic worlds whose properties can be probed by NASA\u2019s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope and other missions.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>TESS will concentrate on stars less than 300 light-years away and 30 to 100 times brighter than Kepler\u2019s targets. The brightness of these target stars will allow researchers to use\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov\/educators\/hera\/spectroscopy\/what_is_spectroscopy.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">spectroscopy<\/a>, the study of the absorption and emission of light, to determine a planet\u2019s mass, density and atmospheric composition. Water, and other key molecules, in its atmosphere can give us hints about a planets\u2019 capacity to harbor life.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>\u201cTESS is opening a door for a whole new kind of study,\u201d said Stephen Rinehart, TESS project scientist at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, which manages the mission. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be able study individual planets and start talking about the differences between planets. The targets TESS finds are going to be fantastic subjects for research for decades to come. It\u2019s the beginning of a new era of exoplanet research.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Through the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov\/docs\/tess\/proposing-investigations.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TESS Guest Investigator Program<\/a>, the worldwide scientific community will be able to participate in investigations outside of TESS\u2019s core mission, enhancing and maximizing the science return from the mission in areas ranging from exoplanet characterization to stellar astrophysics and solar system science.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>\u201cI don\u2019t think we know everything TESS is going to accomplish,\u201d Rinehart said. \u201cTo me, the most exciting part of any mission is the unexpected result, the one that nobody saw coming.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>TESS is a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/astrophysics\/programs\/astrophysics-explorers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA Astrophysics Explorer<\/a>\u00a0mission led and operated by MIT and managed by Goddard. George Ricker, of MIT\u2019s Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, serves as principal investigator for the mission.\u00a0TESS\u2019s four wide-field cameras were developed by MIT\u2019s Lincoln Laboratory. Additional partners include Orbital ATK, NASA\u2019s Ames Research Center, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and the Space Telescope Science Institute. More than a dozen universities, research institutes and observatories worldwide are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tess.gsfc.nasa.gov\/meettheteam.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">participants<\/a>\u00a0in the mission.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/press-release\/nasa-prepares-to-launch-next-mission-to-search-sky-for-new-worlds\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"15793\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?attachment_id=15793\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tesslavaplanet1.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1600,1200\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"tesslavaplanet[1]\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tesslavaplanet1-1024x768.jpg\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-15793\" src=\"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tesslavaplanet1-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"520\" height=\"390\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tesslavaplanet1-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tesslavaplanet1-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tesslavaplanet1-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/tesslavaplanet1.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 520px) 100vw, 520px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>For more information on TESS, go to:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/tess\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/tess<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n<p>Chris Shallue of Google and Dr. Jeffrey Smith of the SETI Institute discuss using artificial intelligence (AI) techniques for locating and analyzing exoplanets:<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"1600\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/V_rcLEBW1ro?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>From the caption:<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>To uncover the mysteries of the universe, astronomers are becoming greedy, making more observations than they can possibly analyze manually. Large photometric surveys from space telescopes like Kepler and the future TESS are no exception and today modern astronomers use artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms to help them reveal the existence of exoplanets hidden in many years of observations of hundreds of thousands of stars.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>For this SETI Talk, we invited two researchers involved in the Kepler mission and AI to discuss the potential of neural networks to transform astronomy.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Jeff Smith, Data scientist at the SETI Institute, has developed data processing and planet detection algorithms for Kepler since 2010 and is now involved in developing the pipeline for the future TESS mission.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Chris Shallue, a senior software engineer at Google AI has used a neural network to analyze archival data from the Kepler Space Telescope to reveal the existence of two unknown exoplanets, named Kepler-90i and Kepler-80g. After presenting their recent work, we will discuss the impact of this new mode of scientific discovery, where artificial intelligence can assist humans in mapping out parts of the galaxy that have not yet been fully revealed.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">====<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none;\" src=\"\/\/rcm-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/cm?o=1&amp;p=12&amp;l=ur1&amp;category=echo&amp;banner=146870N94VDD8MAPHT02&amp;f=ifr&amp;linkID=1a66b7640a95795359e192e9c202c69f&amp;t=hobbyspace&amp;tracking_id=hobbyspace\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0space telescope\u00a0TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite)\u00a0is set to be launched on April 16th on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. TESS will continue the hunt for planets orbiting other stars as the Kepler exoplanet hunter&#8216;s mission comes to an end. NASA Prepares to Launch Next Mission to Search Sky for New Worlds NASA\u2019s Transiting Exoplanet Survey &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=15792\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Videos: TESS to search nearby stars for exoplanets + Using AI to find exoplanets<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exoplanets","category-science-and-technology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-46I","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13656,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=13656","url_meta":{"origin":15792,"position":0},"title":"Video: Overview of the TESS mission to look for exoplanets around nearby stars","author":"TopSpacer","date":"December 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Dr. George Ricker is the Principle Investigator of the TESS\u00a0(Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite)\u00a0Mission, which will succeed Kepler as the primary US space observatory looking for exoplanets. He reviews the mission, which will launch in 2017, in this video: https:\/\/youtu.be\/fyvnXvZMOfA From the caption: The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will discover\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Exoplanets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Exoplanets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=46"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/fyvnXvZMOfA\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16038,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=16038","url_meta":{"origin":15792,"position":1},"title":"TESS: First test image released from new exoplanet orbital observatory","author":"TopSpacer","date":"May 19, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The new exoplanet finder TESS tries out its camera and gets a shot of a whole lot of stars: NASA\u2019s New Planet Hunter Snaps Initial Test Image, Swings by Moon NASA\u2019s next planet hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), is one step closer to searching for new worlds after\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Astronomy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/TESS_FirstImage.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10209,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=10209","url_meta":{"origin":15792,"position":2},"title":"TESS will hunt for exoplanets starting in 2017","author":"TopSpacer","date":"March 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Kepler space observatory proved the effectiveness of the transit technique in\u00a0finding exoplanets. After losing one reaction wheel too many, it was assumed that Kepler was an ex-exoplanet finder. However,\u00a0the clever Kepler scientists and engineers found a way to use\u00a0solar radiation pressure to keep the telescope steady in its viewing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Exoplanets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Exoplanets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=46"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/mpViVEO-ymc\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15881,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=15881","url_meta":{"origin":15792,"position":3},"title":"Videos: Falcon 9 launches TESS exoplanet finding observatory","author":"TopSpacer","date":"April 19, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"On Wednesday at Cape Canaveral, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully put\u00a0TESS\u00a0(Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite)\u00a0on the first (big) step to its final operational orbit, which will have an apogee nearly as far out as the Moon and an perigee far beyond that of geostationary satellites. (See the recent post here\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Astronomy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/wBCBThgIBmA\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9194,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=9194","url_meta":{"origin":15792,"position":4},"title":"TESS exoplanet finder makes a step towards approval + Video: What can SETI learn from Kepler?","author":"TopSpacer","date":"November 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0TESS \u00a0(Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite)\u00a0project is developing a follow-on observatory to the Kepler mission to look for planets around other stars using the transit method (i.e. the dimming of the starlight when a planet crosses between the star and the line of sight to earth.) The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Exoplanets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Exoplanets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=46"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/51S4csx_YK4\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":20579,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=20579","url_meta":{"origin":15792,"position":5},"title":"Video: An overview of finding and studying exoplanets","author":"TopSpacer","date":"December 18, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Dr. Courtney Dressing of the University of California at Berkeley gives a public lecture on exoplanets: The NASA Kepler mission revealed that our Galaxy is teeming with planetary systems and that Earth-sized planets are common. However, most of the planets detected by Kepler orbit stars too faint to permit detailed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Astronomy&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=hobbyspace&l=am2&o=1&a=147291774X","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15794,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15792\/revisions\/15794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}