Planet Hunters TESS
Exoplanets are planets outside of our solar system, orbiting stars beyond the Sun. You could discover the next one! Join the Planet Hunters TESS project, and you’ll learn how to read light curves - plots of light data from distant stars - to find telltale signals from orbiting exoplanets. Then you’ll examine data from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission to begin your own search. Planet Hunters TESS is also available in Français, and Español.
ages
18 and up
division
Solar System
where
Online
launched
2018
What you'll do
- Examine light curves - data plots of light from distant stars - for the telltale pattern of a planet’s transit.
- Connect with scientists and other citizen scientists to share what you are learning, ask questions, and learn together.
Requirements
- Time to get started: 10 minutes to complete online training
- Equipment: Internet connected device
- Knowledge: None. The in-project tutorial and field guide provides all the instruction you’ll need.
Get started!
- Visit the project website.
- Click “Classify” and complete the tutorial to learn how to read and annotate light curves.
- Start your hunt for an undiscovered exoplanet!
Learn More
Join the Planet Hunters Coffee Chat video series! Project leads cover relevant topics in a friendly, fun format. Want to see what you’ve missed? check out the Planet Hunters YouTube channel to access videos explaining the transit method and how citizen scientists can get involved.
New to exoplanets? Explore the (beautifully illustrated!) ABC’s of Exoplanets! Click on a letter to get started.
![This data visualization is presented as white text on a blue-green background. The Y axis is labeled “Brightness” and has numbers from 1 at the top down to -40 at the bottom. The X axis is labeled “Days” and is numbered 1 to 26 from left to right. The light curve itself is made from a series of light readings, each represented by a dot. The majority of dots appear right around the “0” reading on the brightness axis. There are seven places in the graph where the brightness drops down to nearly -40. These drops occur regularly through time. These dips in light strength and their regularity indicate the possible orbit of a planet or two.](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/planet-hunter-tess2.png?w=4096&format=png)
![In this graphic logo we see a yellow star orbited by three planets. A green planet orbits in the plane of the image, on the inner edge of an aqua-colored ring. At the outer edge of the aqua-colored ring, a blue planet orbits in the same plane as the green one. Oblique to these planets, a smaller red planet orbits alone, it's orbit marked by a skinny circle that we see on its edge.](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/planet-hunter-tess-logo.jpeg?w=4096&format=jpeg)
![A fiery red star nearly fills the image frame. A jet of plasma erupts from its surface in the upper right of the image. In the lower left a silvery brown planet is just beginning to transit, or cross in front of, the sun. While we can’t see its surface in detail, we can see the suggestion of mountain ridges and oceans.](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/planet-hunter-tess.jpeg?w=4096&format=jpeg)
![text reading “The ABCs of Exoplanets: A painted exploration of the whats and whys of star-orbiting planets outside our solar system” appears in a font reminiscent of artistic handwriting. The background shows the hazy outline of a planet in yellows and pinks against a star-studded sky.](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/planet-hunter-tess3.png?w=4096&format=png)
![Portrait photo of smiling young woman with her hand pushing her long dark hair out of her face](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/389-noraeisner-320.jpg?w=4096&format=jpeg)
![Portrait photo of a young smiling man](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/497-giuseppe-pappa-320x320-1.jpg?w=4096&format=jpeg)
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