# TESS Program G04058

Title: Discovering Circumbinary Planets With TESS

PI: Kostov, Veselin - NASA/GSFC

Type: SMALL

Summary: One of the most exciting exoplanet breakthroughs of the past decade was the discovery of circumbinary planets (CBPs). Only about a dozen were found, however, leaving a vast gap in our understanding -- similar to the state of exoplanet science 20 years ago when only a handful of hot Jupiters were known. TESS, and only TESS, will allow us to detect of an order of magnitude more CBPs using a technique recently developed and successfully applied: the occurrence of multiple transits during one conjunction. In addition to enchanting individual-case discoveries and their intriguing dynamics, our sample will enable statistical studies of occurrence rates, formation, and habitability of CBPs, as well as provide a deeper understanding of the formation and evolution of close binary stars.