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 TRICERATOPS, a new Bayesian tool that can be used to vet and validate TESS Objects of Interest (TOIs). We test the tool on 68 TOIs that have been previously confirmed as planets or rejected as astrophysical false positives. By looking in the false-positive probability (FPP)−nearby false-positive probability (NFPP) plane, we define criteria that TOIs must meet to be classified as validated planets (FPP < 0.015 and NFPP < 10⁻³), likely planets (FPP < 0.5 and NFPP < 10⁻³), and likely nearby false positives (NFPP > 10⁻¹). We apply this procedure on 384 unclassified TOIs and statistically validate 12, classify 125 as likely planets, and classify 52 as likely nearby false positives. Of the 12 statistically validated planets, 9 are newly validated. TRICERATOPS is currently the only TESS vetting and validation tool that models transits from nearby contaminant stars in addition to the target star. We therefore encourage use of this tool to prioritize follow-up observations that confirm bona fide planets and identify false positives originating from nearby stars.

Mature super-Earths and sub-Neptunes are predicted to be ≃ Jovian radius when younger than 10 Myr. Thus, we expect to find 5–15 R _⊕ planets around young stars even if their older counterparts harbor none. We report the discovery and validation of TOI 1227b, a 0.85 ± 0.05 R _J (9.5 R _⊕) planet transiting a very-low-mass star (0.170 ± 0.015 M _⊙) every 27.4 days. TOI 1227's kinematics and strong lithium absorption confirm that it is a member of a previously discovered subgroup in the Lower Centaurus Crux OB association, which we designate the Musca group. We derive an age of 11 ± 2 Myr for Musca, based on lithium, rotation, and the color–magnitude diagram of Musca members. The TESS data and ground-based follow-up show a deep (2.5%) transit. We use multiwavelength transit observations and radial velocities from the IGRINS spectrograph to validate the signal as planetary in nature, and we obtain an upper limit on the planet mass of ≃0.5 M _J. Because such large planets are exceptionally rare around mature low-mass stars, we suggest that TOI 1227b is still contracting and will eventually turn into one of the more common <5 R _⊕ planets.

We present a magnitude-limited set of lightcurves for stars observed over the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) Extended Mission, as extracted from full-frame images (FFIs) by MIT’s Quick-Look Pipeline (QLP). QLP uses multi-aperture photometry to produce lightcurves for ∼1 million stars each 27.4 days sector, which are then searched for exoplanet transits. The per-sector lightcurves for 9.1 million unique targets observed over the first year of the Extended Mission (Sectors 27–39) are available as High-Level Science Products (HLSPs) on the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes. As in our TESS Primary Mission QLP HLSP delivery, our available data products include both raw and detrended flux time series for all observed stars brighter than TESS magnitude T = 13.5, providing the community with one of the largest sources of FFI-extracted lightcurves to date.