What is Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS)?

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is a space robot that looks for faraway planets by watching how they move in front of their stars.

Imagine you're sitting outside a bright lamp, and every time someone walks in front of it, the light gets slightly dimmer. TESS does something similar but with stars and planets. When a planet passes in front of its star, it blocks some of the star’s light, and TESS notices this tiny change. That helps scientists find new planets!

TESS looks at many stars at once, like a detective watching different lamps to see if someone walks by. If it sees the light from a star getting dimmer regularly, that means there's probably a planet going around it, just like how you know someone is walking in front of a lamp when its light gets dimmer!

TESS helps us learn about planets we can't see directly. It’s like having a super-sensitive flashlight that tells us if something is blocking the light from faraway stars, helping scientists discover new worlds and maybe even ones where life could exist!