TESS Sessions at the AAS Meeting January 2019

News article posted on by Knicole Colon

The TESS team is looking forward to sharing our excitement about the first science results, our high expectations for the two-year science survey, and our plans for the extended mission, at the upcoming winter AAS meeting in Seattle next month.

Stop by our booth in the exhibit hall to find out how you can access data from the early observation sectors, learn about promising planet candidates, propose new Guest Investigator projects in Cycle 2, and get access to software tools for analyzing target pixel files, light curves and full frame images.

Be sure to join us for light snacks and beverages during our special evening session on Monday, January 7 starting at 7:00pm, which will feature a mission update, early science results from exoplanet discovery to stellar astrophysics and time domain astronomy, and a Guest Investigator program update. You are also invited to attend our two special sessions taking place on Tuesday, January 8 at 10:00am and Thursday, January 10 at 2:00pm to hear even more about the latest TESS results and plans for exoplanets, stars and transients. Stop by the NASA traveling Hyperwall on Wednesday, January 9, when two team members will present mission overviews.

Please plan to join us at one or more of these activities, and chat with us about how your own TESS research projects are going, and what you’d like to see in the future. A summary of the TESS activities at AAS 233 is below.


Monday, January 7

Splinter Session 7:00 pm - 8:45 pm (Room 201)

NASA's TESS Mission-Early Science from Exoplanets, Time Domain Astronomy and Astrophysics


Tuesday, January 8

Special Session 10:00 am - 11:30 am (Room 6A)

202 TESS: Early Results and Future Plans

  • 10:00-10:15 Roland Vanderspek (Invited) - The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS): Mission Status and Early Results
  • 10:15-10:30 Jennifer Van Saders (Invited) - Stellar Astrophysics with TESS
  • 10:30-10:40 David Latham (Invited) - Confirmation and Characterization of TESS Planet Candidates
  • 10:40-10:50 Adina Feinstein - A Complete Survey of the Southern Sky with TESS Full-Frame Images
  • 10:50-11:00 Eric Agol - Exact Model for Phase Curves, Eclipses, and transits of stars and their planets for TESS
  • 11:00-11:10 Rachel Matson - Speckle Imaging of TESS Host Stars
  • 11:10-11:20 Derek Buzasi - Extracting Asteroseismology from TESS FFIs: The TASOC Pipeline
  • 11:20-11:30 Michael Fausnaugh - Transient Science with TESS


Wednesday, January 9

Hyperwall Talks (NASA/SMD booth)

  • 9:40-9:55 am TBD - NASA's TESS Mission
  • 5:15-5:30 pm Tom Barclay - NASA's TESS Mission


Thursday, January 10

Special Session 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm (Room 6E)

423 TESS: Early Results and Future Plans II

  • 2:00-2:10 Joshua Pepper - The Updated TESS Input Catalog and Target Selection
  • 2:10-2:20 Jon Jenkins - Initial Performance of the TESS Science Pipeline
  • 2:20-2:30 Natalia Guerrero - TESS Objects of Interest Catalog for Sectors 1-4 of the TESS Mission
  • 2:30-2:40 Robert Wittenmyer (TBD) - Confirmation of TESS planet candidates with Precise Radial Velocities from MINERVA-Australis
  • 2:40-2:50 Songhu Wang - HD202772A b: the first confirmation of a Hot Jupiter Discovered by TESS
  • 2:50-3:00 Johanna Teske - A Southern Hemisphere RV Follow-up Program for TESS with PFS/Magellan
  • 3:00-3:10 Diana Dragomir - Extending the period range of TESS planet candidates
  • 3:10-3:20 Steve Howell (TBD) - Resolving the TESS Planet Population with High Resolution Imaging
  • 3:20-3:30 Maximilian Gunther - The First TESS Re-discoveries of Known Exoplanets