AstroBebop » Kepler

First Solid Exoplanet Discovered: CoRoT-7b

flyingeraser — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 10:15:09 +0000

Sep 16, 2009 – scientists with the European Southern Observatory have announced the discovery of the first solid Exoplanet, CoRoT-7b.

For more info: http://www.esa.org

Millions Of Earths

flyingeraser — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 06:52:39 +0000

Kepler is over 10,000,000 miles from Earth and continues in its drift away, heliocentric orbit. The Kepler team has just completed another science data download from the spacecraft. The operation involved all of the NASA Deep Space Network sites. Science data collected since early July by Kepler were included in the download. This was also the first time that the Canberra Deep Space Network was used for a science data download since Kepler science operations began on May 12, 2009.

Additionally, another Kepler first was achieved in this science data download. The Australian Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) supported Kepler in a shadow-track mode, while the Canberra Deep Space Network site was supporting science data download operations. The ATCA could be used as a possible back-up to the Canberra site in the future for Kepler science operations.

Source: http://www.youtube.com/user/Kowch737

Kepler Exoplanet Hunter: News Briefing 080609

flyingeraser — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 07:08:27 +0000

Kepler Mission News Conference talking about the latest updates on NASA’s Kepler Mission.

Kepler team members say these new data indicate the mission is indeed capable of finding Earth-like planets, if they exist. Kepler will spend the next three-and-a-half years searching for planets as small as Earth, including those that orbit stars in a warm zone where there could be water. It will do this by looking for periodic dips in the brightness of stars, which occur when orbiting planets transit, or cross in front of, the stars.

“When the light curves from tens of thousands of stars were shown to the Kepler science team, everyone was awed; no one had ever seen such exquisitely detailed measurements of the light variations of so many different types of stars,” said William Borucki, the principal science investigator and lead author of the paper.

Kepler Mission: Are There Other Earths Out There?

flyingeraser — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 03:53:38 +0000

NASA’s Kepler mission is starting its hunt for other “Earths” in our galaxy.

Jane Platt interviews Kepler Project Manager Jim Fanson of Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

More information on the Kepler mission is online at http://www.nasa.gov/kepler

Kepler Space Telescope: A Search for Habitable Planets

flyingeraser — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 08:21:16 +0000

Planned for launch in March of 2009, the Kepler space telescope will observe one area of the universe continuously for a period of four years.