NASA's new planet HUNTER set to search for alien life

But whereas Kepler was limited to poring over a small patch of sky during its primary mission, TESS will study almost all of the sky in its two planned years of observations. During that survey, it will focus on the 200,000 brightest stars in the sky - which means the project should identify planets around many of the stars that skywatchers know and love.

The team that designed TESS has calculated that the instrument should spot about 1,600 new exoplanets, including some the size of Earth.

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