TESS Observations

TESS observes the sky in sectors measuring 24° x 96°.  Each sector is observed for two orbits of the satellite around the Earth, or about 27 days on average. The field-of-view is oriented along a line of ecliptic longitude with the instrument boresight generally pointing at ±54° ecliptic latitude, which centers Camera 4 on an ecliptic pole.  By orienting the fields in this way, a 24° diameter region centered on the ecliptic pole can be observed for nearly a full year. During certain sectors in Year 2, the instrument boresight will be pointed at +85° to avoid excessive scattered light in cameras 1 and 2. Because the fields-of-view are shifted north along a line of ecliptic longitude, the region near the ecliptic pole is still observed continuously.

During Year 1 of the mission (July 2018-July 2019), the southern ecliptic hemisphere was observed. During Year 2 of the mission (July 2019-July 2020), the northern hemisphere was observed. During Year 3 of the mission, the southern ecliptic hemisphere is being re-observed. Details of the observations during the first three years of the mission, including spacecraft pointings, can be found at these links:  Year 1, Year 2, Year 3.

Precise Observation Times

The timing of TESS observations and ground contacts can be found in the TESS Operations Calendar. At each perigee, there are two LAHO (low-altitude housekeeping operations) contacts.  Science observations stop 10 minutes before the beginning of the first LAHO and resume 5 minutes before the end of the second LAHO.  The times of LAHO contacts are generally determined 3 months in advance.  The times of LAHO contacts can change, although this happens relatively rarely.

A .csv file that contains the accurate start and stop times of past sectors, along with predicted start and stop times for subsequent sectors, can be found here.

Target Lists

The lists of targets observed at two-minute cadence can be found on the Target Lists page. The pages for individual sectors can be reached using the pull-down menu under Observations.

Current Status

TESS is currently completing Sector 30. Observations of Sector 31 begin on October 22.

The precession of the orbit and the timing of contacts will combine to make the next few orbits (through orbit 72, sector 32) somewhat longer than the mean, ~13 days per orbit.  In addition, scattered light levels will be low and restricted to periods near perigee through Sector 35.

Observations of Two-Minute Cadence Targets for Years 1+2

The images below are plots of all targets observed at two-minute cadence through Sector 26: at left, in celestial coordinates, and at right, in ecliptic coordinates. The dots are color-coded to indicate the number of sectors each target was observed.

Year 1

Observations during Year 1 comprised Sectors 1-13. For each of these sectors, the instrument boresight was pointed at an ecliptic declination of -54°.

Year 2

Observations during Year 2 comprised Sectors 14-26. During Year 2, the northern ecliptic hemisphere was observed. During sectors 17-23, the instrument boresight will be pointed at +54° ecliptic latitude. During Sectors 14-16 and 24-26, the boresight was/will be pointed at +85° ecliptic latitude, due to excessive contamination by stray Earth- and moonlight in cameras 1 and 2 in the nominal +54° orientation.

Year 3

Observations during Year 3 comprised Sectors 27-39. During Year 3, the southern ecliptic hemisphere will be re-observed.  For each of these sectors, the instrument boresight will be pointed at an ecliptic declination of -54°.