Exoplanets and NASA’s TESS Mission

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) launched on April 18, 2018 with a mission to search for new planets outside our solar system. NASA scientist Elisa Quintana presents highlights from TESS’ first year in space, and discusses how a gold mine of data from the satellite will further our understanding of space.

Elisa Quintana is an Astrophysicist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center working on the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) Mission that will launch in 2018 to search for exoplanets around nearby stars. She is also Deputy Project Scientist for Communications for WFIRST, a dark energy and exoplanets mission set to launch in the mid-2020s. Dr. Quintana worked at NASA Ames Research Center and the SETI Institute for many years on the Kepler and K2 space missions to search for Earth-size planets around distant stars. In 2014 she led a team of astronomers to confirm Kepler-186f, the first Earth-sized planet found to orbit within the habitable zone of another star. Her interest in space research began when she was a student at UC, San Diego, where she was advised by former astronaut and physics professor Dr. Sally Ride. Dr. Quintana has since participated in the discovery of hundreds of exoplanets and is particularly interested in planets in extreme environments that were once only in the realm of science fiction.











When: Mon., Feb. 10, 2020 at 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Where: American Museum of Natural History
Central Park West at 79th Street
212-769-5100
Price: $15, $13.50 seniors, students. $12, members.
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The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) launched on April 18, 2018 with a mission to search for new planets outside our solar system. NASA scientist Elisa Quintana presents highlights from TESS’ first year in space, and discusses how a gold mine of data from the satellite will further our understanding of space.

Elisa Quintana is an Astrophysicist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center working on the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) Mission that will launch in 2018 to search for exoplanets around nearby stars. She is also Deputy Project Scientist for Communications for WFIRST, a dark energy and exoplanets mission set to launch in the mid-2020s. Dr. Quintana worked at NASA Ames Research Center and the SETI Institute for many years on the Kepler and K2 space missions to search for Earth-size planets around distant stars. In 2014 she led a team of astronomers to confirm Kepler-186f, the first Earth-sized planet found to orbit within the habitable zone of another star. Her interest in space research began when she was a student at UC, San Diego, where she was advised by former astronaut and physics professor Dr. Sally Ride. Dr. Quintana has since participated in the discovery of hundreds of exoplanets and is particularly interested in planets in extreme environments that were once only in the realm of science fiction.

Buy tickets/get more info now