TESS Northern and Southern Mosaics

This plot combines the TESS northern and southern mosaics to show the extent of its primary mission survey. The yearlong southern panorama (bottom) was completed in July 2019, and the northern imaging was completed in July 2020. The prominent glowing band is the Milky Way, our galaxy seen edgewise. The ecliptic – the plane of Earth's orbit and the apparent yearly path of the Sun through the stars – runs straight across the middle of the map.

Credit: NASA/MIT/TESS and Ethan Kruse (USRA)

This animated all-sky map shows how the 416 images in the TESS northern and southern mosaics fit together. The images of each sector appear in the order TESS captured them. In this plot, the ecliptic – the plane of Earth's orbit and the apparent yearly path of the Sun through the stars – runs straight across the middle of the map.

Credit: NASA/MIT/TESS and Ethan Kruse (USRA)

TESS's two yearlong panoramas appear side by side in twin polar views centered on the southern (left) and northern ecliptic poles. The prominent glowing band of the Milky Way – our galaxy seen edgewise – sweeps across both vistas.

Credit: NASA/MIT/TESS and Ethan Kruse (USRA)