TESS As the TESS mission has evolved, so has the processing and delivery of its data. Whilst a data release note (DRN) is provided for every sector of the mission, this page highlights important changes that might affect you, the user, and your handling/understanding of the data.
Key updates
Below we outline some of the most important issues or data product modifications. For more details please see the Sector tables provided below, and the DRNs listed within.
- Sector 40 marks the start of northern ecliptic hemisphere pointings.
Quick look mission information
Information
| Year | Hemisphere | Dates (UTC) Start - End |
Sectors | Mission |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southern | 07/25/18 - 07/18/19 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 | Prime |
| 2 | Northern | 07/18/19 - 07/04/20 | 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 | Prime |
| 3 | Southern | 07/04/20 - 06/24/21 | 27, 28, 29, 20, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 | Extended |
| 4 | Northern | 06/24/21 - 09/01/22 | 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52 53 54 55 | Extended |
Cycle 4 DRN Tables
Below we provide a brief summary of the DRNs for each Sector in Cycle 4.
Sector 47
Information
| DRN | Orbits | Dates (UTC) Start - End |
Cadence # Start - End |
Data pause (days) |
Science data (days) | Momentum dumps | Problematic TIC ID's |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 67 | 101 102 |
2021-12-31 - 2022-01-13 2022-01-14 - 2022-01-27 |
973686 - 983162 983821 - 993229 |
0.92 | 26.23 | 1 1 |
list | Issue | Description |
| Spacecraft pointing: | Sector 47 consists of observations of the northern ecliptic hemisphere, with Camera 4 pointed near the north ecliptic pole. Camera 1 and Camera 4 were both used for guiding in orbit 101. Camera 4 alone was used for guiding in orbit 102. | ||||||
| Scattered light: | At the start of orbit 102, the Moon crosses through Camera 1, saturating the CCD detectors and causing strong glints in Camera 1 and 2. | ||||||
Sector 46
Information
| DRN | Orbits | Dates (UTC) Start - End |
Cadence # Start - End |
Data pause (days) |
Science data (days) | Momentum dumps | Problematic TIC ID's |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 66 | 99 100 |
2021-12-03 - 2021-12-16 2021-12-17 - 2021-12-30 |
953356 - 962757 963761 - 972897 |
1.39 | 25.75 | 1 1 |
list | Issue | Description |
| Spacecraft pointing: | Sector 46 consists of observations of the ecliptic plane, with the camera array aligned along the ecliptic and Camera 1 the westernmost of the four. Within the first 13 hours of orbit 99, Camera 4 alone was used for guiding. However, the Earth passed close enough to Camera 4 after this time that guiding was switched to Camera 1. The change in guiding was done in two steps. First, Camera 1 was enabled for guiding (concurrently with Camera 4) at TJD= 2552.088254 days. Then, Camera 4 was disabled for guiding 30 minutes later, at TJD= 2552.109087 days. At these two epochs, the spacecraft pointing shifted by a small amount, less than 1". The cadences for each data mode at these epochs are marked with an Attitude Tweak anomaly flag. In some cases, especially for saturated stars, the SAP FLUX light curves exhibit a step function at these times. Camera 1 alone was used for guiding in all of orbit 100 | ||||||
| Scattered light: | At the start of orbit 99, the Earth crosses through Cameras 1, 2, and 3, saturating the CCD detectors and/or causing strong glints. At the start of orbit 100, the Earth is in Camera 3 and saturates the detectors before moving close to the edge of Camera 4, while the Moon passes close to Camera 1. When the Earth or Moon are close to the camera fields of view, they cause strong glints and scattered light signals. | ||||||
Sector 45
Information
| DRN | Orbits | Dates (UTC) Start - End |
Cadence # Start - End |
Data pause (days) |
Science data (days) | Momentum dumps | Problematic TIC ID's |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 65 | 97 98 |
2021-11-07 - 2021-11-19 2021-11-20 - 2021-12-02 |
934594 - 943577 944411- 952682 |
1.16 | 23.96 | 1 1 |
list | Issue | Description |
| Spacecraft pointing: | Sector 45 consists of observations of the ecliptic plane, with the camera array aligned along the ecliptic and Camera 1 the westernmost of the four. At the beginning of Sector 45, the center of Camera 1 was ∼ 50 degrees from the antisolar point; at the end of the sector, the distance was ∼ 23 degrees. Camera 1 alone was used for guiding in orbits 97 and 98 of Sector 45. | ||||||
| Scattered light: | At the start of orbit 97, the Earth crosses through Cameras 2, 3, and 4 and saturates the CCD detectors. At the start of orbit 98, the Earth is in Camera 4, while the Moon is in Camera 1 and moves through Camera 2. Outside of these times, strong scattered light signals are present when the Moon or Earth are near the camera fields of view. | ||||||
Sector 44
Information
| DRN | Orbits | Dates (UTC) Start - End |
Cadence # Start - End |
Data pause (days) |
Science data (days) | Momentum dumps | Problematic TIC ID's |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 64 | 95 96 |
2021-10-12 - 2021-10-24 2021-10-25 - 2021-11-05 |
916364 - 924674 925734 - 933829 |
1.47 | 22.78 | 1 1 |
list | Issue | Description |
| Spacecraft pointing: | Sector 44 consists of observations of the ecliptic plane. For ecliptic pointings, the antisolar point is set towards the edge of Camera 1 (nearest Camera 2), and Cameras 2, 3, and 4 are aligned parallel to the ecliptic plane in the westward direction. Camera 1 alone was used for guiding in orbits 95 and 96 of Sector 44. | ||||||
| Scattered light: | At the end of orbit 95, the Moon crosses through Camera 1 and saturates the CCD detectors. At the start of orbit 96, the Moon is in Camera 3 and moves through Camera 4. Outside of these times, strong scattered light signals are present when the Moon or Earth are near the camera fields of view. | ||||||
Sector 43
Information
| DRN | Orbits | Dates (UTC) Start - End |
Cadence # Start - End |
Data pause (days) |
Science data (days) | Momentum dumps | Problematic TIC ID's |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 62 | 93 94 |
2021-09-16- 2021-09-28 2021-09-29 - 2021-10-11 |
897629 - 906244 906999 - 915432 |
1.05 | 23.684 | 1 1 |
list | Issue | Description |
| Spacecraft pointing: | Sector 43 consists of observations of the ecliptic plane. For ecliptic pointings, the antisolar point is set towards the edge of Camera 1 (nearest Camera 2), and Cameras 2, 3, and 4 are aligned parallel to the ecliptic plane in the westward direction. Camera 4 alone was used for guiding in orbits 93 and 94 of Sector 43. Outside of these times, strong scattered light signals are present when the Moon or Earth are near the camera fields of view. | ||||||
| Scattered light: | In Orbit 93, the Moon crosses the fields of view of all cameras (one at a time). The Moon saturates CCD detectors during these times. Outside of these times, strong scattered light signals are present when the Moon or Earth are near the camera fields of view. | ||||||
| Anomalous Effects: | On Camera 3, CCD 1, ouput Channel D (columns greater than 1580), a small change to the start of frame ringing (cf. TESS Instrument Handbook, Section 6.8.2) was observed at row numbers ≲750. The change starts at TJD=2475.22927 in orbit 93, and is restricted to orbit 93. The amplitude is very small, only 0.27 electrons per second, and is usually corrected at the flux time series level during background subtraction for individual targets. However, the effect is not removed by the calibration model and is visible in raw/calibrated pixels in this region of the detector. See the DRN for more information. | ||||||
Sector 42
Information
| DRN | Orbits | Dates (UTC) Start - End |
Cadence # Start - End |
Data pause (days) |
Science data (days) | Momentum dumps | Problematic TIC ID's |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 | 91 92 |
2021-08-21 - 2021-09-02 2021-09-03 - 2021-09-15 |
878566 - 887652 888321 - 896907 |
0.93 | 24.54 | 1 1 |
list | Issue | Description |
| Spacecraft pointing: | Sector 42 consists of observations of the ecliptic plane. For ecliptic pointings, the antisolar point is set towards the edge of Camera 1 (nearest Camera 2), and Cameras 2, 3, and 4 are aligned parallel to the ecliptic plane in the westward direction. Camera 4 alone was used for guiding in orbits 91 and 92 of Sector 42. | ||||||
| Scattered light: | In Orbit 91, the Moon crosses the fields of view of all cameras (one at a time), and the Earth crosses the fields of view of Cameras 1 and 2. The Moon and the Earth saturate CCD detectors during these times. Outside of these times, strong scattered light signals are also present for most of Orbit 91 and the second half of Orbit 92. | ||||||
| Jupiter: | Jupiter was near opposition during Sector 42, and landed in the field-of-view of Camera 1 for ∼7 days at the beginning of observations. Jupiter appears as a very bright object at the bottom of Camera 1, CCD 4, output channel A. It does not affect contrending for any targets on this CCD, although the smear correction for its associated columns is unreliable and targets close to Jupiter may have unreliable photometry for the first 7 days of observations. | ||||||
Sector 41
Information
| DRN | Orbits | Dates (UTC) Start - End |
Cadence # Start - End |
Data pause (days) |
Science data (days) | Momentum dumps | Problematic TIC ID's |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 59 | 89 90 |
2021-07-24 - 2021-08-06 2021-08-07 - 2021-08-20 |
858621 - 867704 868506 - 877769 |
1.11 | 25.48 | 1 1 |
list | Issue | Description |
| Spacecraft pointing: | Sector 41 consists of observations of the northern ecliptic hemisphere. For northern pointings, scattered light from the Earth and Moon is a more persistent issue for Camera 1 and Camera 2 than for southern pointings. For this reason, the spacecraft pointing was set at +85 degrees in ecliptic latitude, so that Camera 2 and Camera 3 straddle the ecliptic pole. Both Cameras 1 and 4 were used for guiding in orbits 89 and 90 of Sector 41 | ||||||
| Scattered light: | In Sector 41, there is scattered light present for most of both orbits. | ||||||
Sector 40
Information
| DRN | Orbits | Dates (UTC) Start - End |
Cadence # Start - End |
Data pause (days) |
Science data (days) | Momentum dumps | Problematic TIC ID's |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 57 | 87 88 |
2021-06-25 - 2021-07-08 2021-07-09 - 2021-07-23 |
837499 - 847399 848066 - 857807 |
0.93 | 27.28 | 1 1 |
list | Issue | Description |
| Spacecraft pointing: | Both Cameras 1 and 4 were used for guiding in orbits 87 and 88 of Sector 40 | ||||||
| Scattered light: | In Sector 40, there is scattered light present for most of both orbits. | ||||||
Cycle 3 DRN Tables
Below we provide a brief summary of the DRNs for each Sector in Cycle 3.
Cycle 3 Tables »Cycle 2 DRN Tables
Below we provide a brief summary of the DRNs for each Sector in Cycle 2.
Cycle 2 Tables »Cycle 1 DRN Tables
Below we provide a brief summary of the DRNs for each Sector in Cycle 1.
Cycle 1 Tables »Useful links
Below we list some potentially useful urls for those users wishing to learn more about TESS (and Kepler) data processing.