Australian Sky & Telescope - April 2018

http://www.skyandtelescope.com.au 21

TESS AND EARTH

TESS’s closest approach to Earth, or its perigee,

will be 17 Earth radii (about 108,000 km). That’s

three times higher than the geosynchronous orbit

many communications satellites occupy. It’s farthest

approach, or apogee, is about 59 Earth radii or

376,000 km — just shy of the Moon’s average distance

of 60 Earth radii.

NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER