Washington, July 29 : After a successful launch in April this year, NASA's newest planet hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), has now started its search for planets around nearby stars.
Officially beginning science operations on July 25, TESS is expected to transmit its first series of science data back to Earth in August, and thereafter periodically every 13.5 days, once per orbit, as the spacecraft makes it closest approach to Earth, NASA said in a statement.
"I'm thrilled that our new planet hunter mission is ready to start scouring our solar system's neighborhood for new worlds," said NASA Astrophysics Division Director Paul Hertz.
"Now that we know there are more planets than stars in our universe, I look forward to the strange, fantastic worlds we're bound to discover," Hertz added.
TESS is NASA's latest satellite to search for planets outside our solar system, known as exoplanets. The mission will spend the next two years monitoring the nearest and brightest stars for periodic dips in their light.
These events, called transits, suggest that a planet may be passing in front of its star. TESS is expected to find thousands of planets using this method, some of which could potentially support life.
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Patna, April 10 (PTI): A student of a government medical college here who was allegedly denied admission in his own health institute after a road accident died at a private hospital on Thursday, police said.
Abhinav Pandey, a second-year student of government-run Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Science (IGIMS) was injured when his motorcycle crashed into a road divider earlier this week. He was allegedly denied admission at the IGIMS for injuries he sustained in the road accident and had to be admitted to a private hospital.
Soon after the news of Abhinav's death spread, protests erupted at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences on Thursday.
A police officer who did not wish to be identified said, "We did visit the IGIMS premises to bring the situation under control. We can't comment much on the death of the student since no written complaint has been submitted in this regard."
However, the protesting students, who requested anonymity, said, "Our primary grouse is that Abhinav, whose bike crashed into a road divider earlier this week, was denied admission for his injuries at the IGIMS despite being a student. Left with no choice, we had to take him to a private hospital."
Bihar Health minister Mangal Pandey and authorities at the IGIMS could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts.
However, the matter was flagged by Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar at a press conference in the city where he reached as part of the state-wide 'Stop Migration and Provide Jobs' padayatra.
"One can imagine the state of affairs in Bihar's Health department. A medical student died simply because he was denied admission in his own institute. The health system in Bihar has completely collapsed," Kanhaiya told reporters.