Question 1

True or false: TESS can detect exoplanets by watching for tiny dips in starlight as planets transit their host stars.

Accepted Answer

True. This is the transit method—measuring periodic, minuscule brightness drops. TESS’s primary job is to catch these transits around bright stars.

Question 2

True or false: TESS has detected over 7,000 candidate exoplanets since its launch in 2018.

Accepted Answer

True. As of early 2025, TESS has identified more than 7,000 candidate exoplanets (TOIs), with over 400 confirmed. It's the most prolific planet hunter ever.

Question 3

True or false: TESS uses a single massive telescope mirror, similar to the Hubble Space Telescope.

Accepted Answer

False. TESS actually uses four small, wide-field cameras (each with 16.8-megapixel sensors) instead of one large mirror. This design maximizes its sky coverage.

Question 4

True or false: Each TESS sector covers a patch of sky about as wide as 24 full moons across.

Accepted Answer

False. TESS sectors are 24° wide, equivalent to about 48 full moons across (Moon ≈ 0.5°). 24 full moons would be only ~12°.

Question 5

True or false: TESS was built to replace the Kepler space telescope, which ran out of fuel in 2018.

Accepted Answer

False. TESS is a successor, not a replacement. Kepler focused on a small patch of sky; TESS surveys nearly the entire sky. They operated concurrently for a few months.

Question 6

True or false: TESS was originally designed to search for planets around the brightest stars near the Sun.

Accepted Answer

True. Unlike Kepler, TESS focuses on nearby, bright stars to find exoplanets that are easier for ground and space telescopes to study in detail.

Question 7

True or false: TESS discovered its first exoplanet, Pi Mensae c, just two weeks after launch.

Accepted Answer

False. TESS launched April 18, 2018; its first confirmed exoplanet, Pi Mensae c, was announced in September 2018, about four months later. It was not discovered two weeks after launch.

Question 8

True or false: TESS orbits the Moon to avoid Earth's atmosphere and light pollution.

Accepted Answer

False. TESS uses a highly elliptical P/2 orbit around Earth, not the Moon. This stable orbit keeps it far from Earth's interference without lunar assistance.

TESS satellite Trivia Questions