TESS Summary
The latest data release notes (DRN) and the TESS Instrument Handbook can be found at the MAST page for TESS.
| TESS Instrument Handbook v0.1 | Vanderspek et al., 2018 |
| TESS Data Release Notes | Fausnaugh et al., 2018 |
| TESS Observatory Guide v1.1 | Schlieder et al., 2017 |
| A description of the TESS observatory and science mission | Ricker et al., 2015 |
| TESS science yield predictions, and erratum | Sullivan et al., 2015 |
| The Revised TESS Input Catalog and Candidate Target List v8 | Stassun et al., 2019 |
| TESS Input Catalog versions 8.1 and 8.2: Phantoms in the 8.0 Catalog and How to Handle Them | Paegert et al., 2021 |
| The TESS Objects of Interest Catalog from the TESS Prime Mission | Guerrero et al., 2021 |
| The TESS Mission Target Selection Procedure | Fausnaugh et al., 2021 |
| TESS Science Data Products Description Document | Twicken et al., 2020 |
| TESS Science Processing Operations Center (SPOC) pipeline | Jenkins et al., 2016 |
| TESS Orbital Trajectory Design, and enhancements | Dichmann et al., 2014, 2016 |
Additional resources can be found below:
| TESS bandpass response function | ||
| The Kepler + TESS SPOC pipeline | Jenkins et al., 2020 |
TESS Observatory Guide
A number of documents have been created to describe the TESS mission. An initial document which might be useful to a first time user is the TESS Observatory Guide. Although now dated, and superceded by the updated content of this website and the TESS Instrument Handbook, this guide provides a comprehensive description of the TESS observatory design, operations, and capabilities. Note that the proposal section of the guide refers to the prime mission only and that users wishing to submit a GI proposal in the extended mission should refer to the extended mission Guest Investigator page.
TESS project papers
A description of the TESS observatory and science mission: Ricker et al., 2015, JATIS, 1, 014003
TESS science yield predictions: Sullivan et al., 2015, ApJ, 809, 77 and erratum
TESS Input Catalog and Candidate Target List description: Stassun et al., 2018, ApJ, 156, 102
A full list of TESS-related articles can be found on our publications page.
Data processing papers
The TESS Science Processing Operations Center (SPOC) at NASA Ames Research Center developed a TESS data processing pipeline that generates calibrated pixels and light curves, searches for periodic transit events, and generates validation products for the transit-like features in the light curves. All TESS SPOC data products are or will be archived to the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST).
A description of the SPOC pipeline can be found here: Jenkins et al., 2016. A PDF version of the article can be downloaded here provided acknowledgement of the full SPIE citation: Jenkins et al. 2016. "The TESS science processing operations center", Proc. SPIE 9913, Software and Cyberinfrastructure for Astronomy IV, 99133E (August 8, 2016); doi:10.1117/12.2233418.
The SPOC pipeline is based on the Kepler Science Processing Pipeline, which is documented here, and references therein.
The TESS Science Data Products Description Document describes data product formats. Files are produced primarily by the TESS Science Processing Operations Center (SPOC) at NASA Ames Research Center.