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    Breakthrough study of Perplexing Stellar Pulsations

    May 17, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Sound waves bouncing around inside a star cause it to expand and contract, which results in detectable brightness changes. This animation depicts one type of Delta Scuti pulsation — called a radial mode — that is driven by waves (blue arrows) traveling between the star’s core and surface. In reality, a star may pulsate in many different modes, creating complicated patterns that enable scientists to learn about its interior.
    Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

    Astronomers have detected elusive pulsation patterns in dozens of young, rapidly rotating stars thanks to data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)...

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    Surprise! TESS shows ancient North Star undergoes Eclipses

    January 9, 2020, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    TESS image with Alpha Draconis circled
    The star Alpha Draconis (circled), also known as Thuban, has long been known to be a binary system. Now data from NASA’s TESS show its two stars undergo mutual eclipses. Credit: NASA/MIT/TESS

    NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) have shown that Alpha Draconis, a well-studied star visible to the naked eye, and its fainter companion star regularly eclipse each other. While astronomers previously knew this was a binary system, the mutual eclipses came as a complete surprise.

    “The first question that comes to mind is ‘how did we miss this?'” said Angela Kochoska, a postdoctoral researcher at Villanova University in Pennsylvania who presented the findings at the 235th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Honolulu on Jan. 6...

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    Supernova observation first of its kind using NASA Satellite

    July 17, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    Supernova Explosion, ASASSN-18tb

    Data offer new clues about why stars explode. A team of astronomers at The Ohio State University showed that the satellite survey TESS, could be used to monitor a particular type of supernova, giving scientists more clues about what causes white dwarf stars to explode – and about the elements those explosions leave behind.

    “We have known for years that these stars explode, but we have terrible ideas of why they explode,” said Patrick Vallely, lead author of the study and an Ohio State astronomy graduate student...

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    NASA’s TESS mission finds its Smallest Planet yet

    July 1, 2019, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    The three planets discovered in the L98-59 system by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) are compared to Mars and Earth in order of increasing size in this illustration.
    Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

    NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered a world between the sizes of Mars and Earth orbiting a bright, cool, nearby star. The planet, called L 98-59b, marks the tiniest discovered by TESS to date.

    Two other worlds orbit the same star. While all three planets’ sizes are known, further study with other telescopes will be needed to determine if they have atmospheres and, if so, which gases are present...

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