Archive | Kepler

Earth came early to the party in the evolving universe. According to a new theoretical study, when our solar system was born 4.6 billion years ago only eight percent of the potentially habitable planets that will ever form in the universe existed. original

This artistic animation depicts one possible appearance of the planet Kepler-452b, the first near-Earth-size world to be found in the habitable zone of star that is similar to our sun. The planet’s rotation is sped up. original

Kepler planet candidates by size as of July 2015. original

The tightly packed system, named Kepler-444, is home to five small planets in very compact orbits that formed when the Milky Way galaxy was a youthful two billion years old. original

Scientists were excited to discover clear skies on a relatively small planet, about the size of Neptune, using the combined power of NASA’s Hubble, Spitzer and Kepler space telescopes. The view from this planet — were it possible to fly a spaceship into its gaseous layers — is illustrated at right. original

On May 28, 2013, NASA’s Kepler mission delivered new data to the NASA Exoplanet Archive. original

Following the apparent failure of reaction wheel 4, engineers were successful at transitioning the spacecraft to Point Rest State. original

At our semi-weekly contact on Tuesday, May 14, 2013, we found the Kepler spacecraft once again in safe mode. original

NASA will host a news teleconference at 4 p.m. EDT, today, May 15, to discuss the status of the agency’s Kepler Space Telescope. original

During a scheduled contact, engineers discovered Kepler was in a self-protective mode. The spacecraft returned to science data collection on May 6. original

The team recently completed a monthly science data download, marking the successful completion of Quarter 16 flight operations. original

Astronomers have discovered a pair of neighboring planets with dissimilar densities orbiting very close to each other. original

Since science operations began in May 2009, the Kepler team has released two catalogs of transiting planet candidates. original