TIC: TESS Input Catalog of 1.73 Billion Stellar Sources

1.73 billion celestial sources compiled from multiple catalogs including Gaia DR2, 2MASS, and Hipparcos for the TESS mission. The catalog was constructed by NASA to provide stellar parameters for selecting observation targets and evaluating planetary transit candidates. This service provides access to version 8.2 of the TESS Input Catalog via a Cone Search endpoint.

Use Cases

• Selecting targets for TESS two-minute cadence observations based on compiled stellar parameters.
• Evaluating the properties of planetary transit candidates using combined stellar data.
• Cross-referencing stellar information from multiple source catalogs like Gaia and 2MASS.

Strengths

• Contains 1.73 billion sources, providing a large-scale sky survey.
• Integrates data from over 15 established astronomical catalogs, including Gaia DR2 and Hipparcos.
• Specifically constructed for and serves the operational needs of the NASA TESS mission.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect temporal or observational bias inherent to the source catalogs.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Combined sources from many other catalogs, including 2MASS, LAMOST, SuperBlink, HSOY, RAVE, APOGEE, UCAC, KIC, EPIC, Tycho-2, APASS, AllWISE, SDSS, Gaia DR2, and Hipparcos.

Time Range

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Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 19:35:28.360053; freshness should be verified.

Geography

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