Observing dates

TESS launched April 18, 2018 at 6:51 p.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Regular science operations with TESS began on July 25, 2018. TESS is now executing its survey, observing one sector at a time. TESS will continue to tile the sky with 27.4 day-long sectors during its 2 year prime mission, and continuing into extended mission.

Sector dates

The start and end dates for each sector, and the list of GI targets (csv file) observed in each sector, are below. The MAST provide an up to date summary of TESS data available at the archive. Information on how to download the data can be found here. The spacecraft pointing positions are available from MIT.

The data from each sector are required to be available at the MAST no later than 2 months after the observations for a given sector are completed. However, the data are routinely downloaded, processed through the pipeline, and released at MAST on shorter timescales than this. The data for each sector typically available within 1 month of the end date for a given sector. Users are encouraged to check the MAST status page to check on the data availability for particular sectors.

Distribution of targets

Illustrations showing all targets (in red) observed at 2-minute cadence for each camera and sector.