We present 2241 exoplanet candidates identified with data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) during its 2 yr Prime Mission. We list these candidates in the TESS Objects of Interest (TOI) Catalog, which includes both new planet candidates found by TESS and previously known planets recovered by TESS observations. We describe the process used to identify TOIs, investigate the characteristics of the new planet candidates, and discuss some notable TESS planet discoveries. The TOI catalog includes an unprecedented number of small planet candidates around nearby bright stars, which are well suited for detailed follow-up observations. The TESS data products for the Prime Mission (sectors 1–26), including the TOI catalog, light curves, full-frame images, and target pixel files, are publicly available at the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes.

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is the first high-precision full-sky photometric survey in space. We extracted light curves from a magnitude limited set of stars and other stationary luminous objects from the TESS Full Frame Images using the MIT Quick Look Pipeline. Here, we describe the techniques used to create light curves.

We present light curves from a magnitude limited set of stars and other stationary luminous objects from the TESS Full Frame Images, as reduced by the MIT Quick Look Pipeline (QLP). Our light curves cover the full two-year TESS Primary Mission and include ∼14,770,000 and ∼9,600,000 individual light curve segments in the Southern and Northern ecliptic hemispheres, respectively. We describe the detrending techniques we used to create the light curves, and compare the noise properties with theoretical expectations. All of the QLP light curves are available at MAST as a High Level Science Product (HLSP) via doi:10.17909/t9-r086-e880 (https://archive.stsci.edu/hlsp/qlp). This is the largest collection of TESS photometry available to the public to date.

We present new transit and occultation times for the hot Jupiter WASP-12b. The data are compatible with a constant period derivative: ms yr⁻¹ and . However, it is difficult to tell whether we have observed orbital decay or a portion of a 14-year apsidal precession cycle. If interpreted as decay, the star’s tidal quality parameter is about . If interpreted as precession, the planet’s Love number is 0.44 ± 0.10. Orbital decay appears to be the more parsimonious model: it is favored by despite having two fewer free parameters than the precession model. The decay model implies that WASP-12 was discovered within the final ∼0.2% of its existence, which is an unlikely coincidence but harmonizes with independent evidence that the planet is nearing disruption. Precession does not invoke any temporal coincidence, but it does require some mechanism to maintain an eccentricity of in the face of rapid tidal circularization. To distinguish unequivocally between decay and precession will probably require a few more years of monitoring. Particularly helpful will be occultation timing in 2019 and thereafter.

We report the detection of a transiting planet around π Men (HD 39091), using data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The solar-type host star is unusually bright (V = 5.7) and was already known to host a Jovian planet on a highly eccentric, 5.7 yr orbit. The newly discovered planet has a size of 2.04 ± 0.05 R _⊕ and an orbital period of 6.27 days. Radial-velocity data from the High-Accuracy Radial-velocity Planet Searcher and Anglo-Australian Telescope/University College London Echelle Spectrograph archives also displays a 6.27 day periodicity, confirming the existence of the planet and leading to a mass determination of 4.82 ± 0.85 M _⊕. The star’s proximity and brightness will facilitate further investigations, such as atmospheric spectroscopy, asteroseismology, the Rossiter–McLaughlin effect, astrometry, and direct imaging.

Data from the newly commissioned Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite has revealed a “hot Earth” around LHS 3844, an M dwarf located 15 pc away. The planet has a radius of R _⊕ and orbits the star every 11 hr. Although the existence of an atmosphere around such a strongly irradiated planet is questionable, the star is bright enough (I = 11.9, K = 9.1) for this possibility to be investigated with transit and occultation spectroscopy. The star’s brightness and the planet’s short period will also facilitate the measurement of the planet’s mass through Doppler spectroscopy.