The Digital Press

The TESS mission, while primarily designed to find exoplanets, has also identified thousands of eclipsing binary stars across the sky. Researchers used neural networks and citizen scientists to confirm over 10,000 such binaries, with nearly 8,000 being new discoveries.

Why it matters: Eclipsing binaries provide key insights into stellar formation and evolution.

The big picture: TESS’s wide and continuous sky coverage enables unprecedented detection of variable star systems.

Stunning stat: The catalog includes 7,936 new eclipsing binaries and updates on 2,065 known systems.

Quick takeaway: A large, vetted catalog plus ~900,000 additional candidates with strong eclipse-like signals are now available for study.