Colloquium Abstract - Fausnaugh - 2026Sep18

September 18, 2025

11:00am Mountain

Michael Fausnaugh (TTU)

 

The Unique View of TESS on Transient Astronomy

 

Abstract

Wide-field, time domain sky surveys have become increasingly important for Astronomy at all wavelengths. However, every survey must make trades between cadence, sky area, depth, and other parameters. In this talk, I will discuss unique science enabled by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). TESS offers continuous monitoring over 5% of the sky for 27 days at a time. Continuous TESS observations can therefore capture otherwise impossible observations, such as the very first moment of supernovae and gamma-ray burst (GRB) explosions. Key scientific contributions from TESS include constraints on Type Ia supernova progenitor systems, optical SED measurements of prompt GRB emission (i.e., simultaneous optical flux with the initial gamma-rays), distributions of rise times of dwarf novae light curves, and a microlensing planet discovery that previews the data quality we expect for the Roman Space Telescope Galactic Bulge survey. I will also discuss how TESS is best supported with multiwavelength observations, focusing on my group’s program to follow-up TESS GRB afterglow light curves with the VLA.


Local Host: Justin Linford

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