NASA’s planet hunter has stitched together its clearest full-sky map yet, and it is packed with possible new worlds.
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, released its most complete all-sky mosaic so far, combining observations from April 2018 to September 2025 into a single view.
The map was built from 96 sectors observed during that period. TESS surveys one section of the sky at a time, spending around a month on each and using four cameras to monitor the brightness of tens of thousands of stars.
Subtle dips in light can point to planets passing in front of their host stars.
Blue markers on the mosaic show the locations of 679 confirmed exoplanets as of September 2025. Orange markers show 5,165 candidates still awaiting further verification.
The image highlights nearly 6,000 confirmed and candidate exoplanets identified by the mission by the end of its second extended operation in September 2025.
Among them are planets that may be volcanic, planets being torn apart by their stars, and planets orbiting binary systems with two suns.
The glowing arc through the centre of the map is the plane of the Milky Way. In the rectangular projection, that central plane takes on a U shape. The Large Magellanic Cloud appears as an elongated glow at bottom left.
Black areas on the map show regions TESS has not yet imaged.
NASA Universe said: “Our TESS telescope has released its most complete view of the starry sky yet! All those dots? They’re confirmed and candidate planets! Since launching in April 2018, TESS has been scanning wide swaths of the sky to build up this mosaic.”
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