Satellite aims to discover thousands of nearby exoplanets, including at least 50 Earth-sized ones
(PHYSorg.com Space & Earth)

There are potentially thousands of planets that lie just outside our solar system-galactic neighbors that could be rocky worlds or more tenuous collections of gas and dust. Where are these closest exoplanets located? And which of them might we be able to probe for clues to their composition and even habitability? The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) will be the first to seek out these nearby worlds.