Kepler Discovers Earth-Sized Exoplanets

Source - NASA Science News for Dec. 20, 2011

NASA's Kepler spacecraft has found two Earth-sized planets orbiting a distant sun-like star. These alien worlds are intermingled in their star system with other much larger planets, an arrangement which challenges orthodox ideas of how planets are formed.

FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/20dec_earthsized/

Kepler Confirms First Planet in Habitable Zone of Sun-like Star

Source - NASA Science News for Dec. 5, 2011

In a significant milestone on the road to finding Earth's "twin" elsewhere in the galaxy, NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed its first planet in the habitable zone of a distant sun-like star.

FULL STORY at http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2011/05dec_firstplanet/

Kepler-22b -- Comfortably Circling within the Habitable Zone



"This diagram compares our own solar system to Kepler-22, a star system containing the first "habitable zone" planet discovered by NASA's Kepler mission. The habitable zone is the sweet spot around a star where temperatures are right for water to exist in its liquid form. Liquid water is essential for life on Earth.

Kepler-22's star is a bit smaller than our sun, so its habitable zone is slightly closer in. The diagram shows an artist's rendering of the planet comfortably orbiting within the habitable zone, similar to where Earth circles the sun. Kepler-22b has a yearly orbit of 289 days. The planet is the smallest known to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a sun-like star. It's about 2.4 times the size of Earth."

Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech
Diagram and descriptive text source: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/images/kepler-22b-diagram.html

Kepler Discovers Multiple Planets Transiting a Single Star

Source - NASA Science News for August 26, 2010

NASA's Kepler spacecraft has discovered two Saturn-sized planets transiting a single sun-like star. The same system might contain a third world--a hot "super-Earth" one and a half times the size of Earth. Researchers announced the results today at a NASA press conference.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/26aug_kepler/

Kepler Discovers Five Exoplanets

Source - NASA Science News for January 4, 2010

NASA's Kepler space telescope, designed to find Earth-size planets in the habitable zone of sun-like stars, has discovered its first five new exoplanets.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2010/04jan_fiveplanets.htm?list894285

Check out our RSS feed at http://science.nasa.gov/rss.xml

Are We Alone for 12/014/09 - A Man, A Planet, A Tenal: Panama!

Are We Alone - A Man, A Planet, A Tenal: Panama!

While the Kepler spacecraft hunts for habitable planets beyond the solar system, we’ve let one of our own planets slip away! Find out why Pluto’s demotion to dwarf status created a public uproar as astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson reads us his hate mail. From third-graders!

Also, how we might find Earth-like planets… the possibility of life on Saturn’s moon Titan… and TED Prize winner Jill Tarter’s vision for finding E.T.

And, the man who made it all possible: 400 years of Galileo and the telescope. Part of our series for the International Year of Astronomy.

Guests

• Neil deGrasse Tyson – Astrophysicist, Head of the Hayden Planetarium, and author of The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet
• Alan Stern – Planetary Scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, lead investigator on NASA’s New Horizons Mission
• Jeffrey Van Cleve – Astronomer at the Kepler Mission Science Office
• Carolyn Porco – Planetary scientist and Lead for NASA’s Cassini Mission
• Jill Tarter – Director of SETI Research at the SETI Institute
• Andy Fraknoi – Astronomer at Foothill College and author of Voyages Through the Universe (with CD-ROM, Virtual Astronomy Labs, and InfoTrac )

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

Are We Alone for 09/14/09 - Seeing Stars and Planets

Are We Alone - Seeing Stars and Planets

It’s hot, too darn hot! And bright, too darn bright! But over-the-top photon flux doesn’t stop scientists from studying the sun. And solar eclipses are an ideal time for observing our favorite nuclear reactor. Discover what it was like to observe totality during the 2009 China solar eclipse.

Plus, how a star is born … the latest from the NASA Kepler mission to seek Earth-like planets … and, planet-hunter extraordinaire Mike Brown discovers the tenth planet: an icy body beyond Pluto.

Guests:

• Jay Pasachoff – Astronomer, Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts
• Betsy Barton – Astronomer, University of California, Irvine
• Mike Brown – Planetary Astronomer, California Institute of Technology
• Jon Jenkins – SETI Institute scientist with NASA’s Kepler Mission

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

Kepler Mission Rockets to Space in Search of Other Earths

Source - NASA Science News for March 6, 2009

In a night launch of stunning beauty, NASA's Kepler spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral on Friday night, March 6th, on a mission to find Earth-like planets circling other stars.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/06mar_keplerlaunch.htm?list894285

Check out our RSS feed at http://science.nasa.gov/rss.xml

Are We Alone for 03/02/09 - A Man, A Planet, A Tenal: Panama!

Are We Alone - "A Man, A Planet, A Tenal: Panama!"
While the Kepler spacecraft hunts for habitable planets outside our galaxy, we’ve let one of our own planets slip away! Find out why Pluto’s demotion to dwarf status created a public uproar as astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson reads us his hate mail. From third-graders!

Also, how we might find Earth-like planets… the possibility of life on Saturn’s moon Titan… and TED Prize winner Jill Tarter’s vision for finding E.T.
And, the man who made it all possible: 400 years of Galileo and the telescope. Part of our series for the International Year of Astronomy.

Guests

• Neil deGrasse Tyson - Astrophysicist, Head of the Hayden Planetarium, and author of The Pluto Files:The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet
• Alan Stern - Planetary Scientist at the Southwest Research Institute, lead investigator on NASA’s New Horizons Mission
• Jeffrey Van Cleve - Astronomer at the Kepler Mission Science Office
• Carolyn Porco - Planetary scientist and Lead for NASA’s Cassini Mission
• Jill Tarter - Director of SETI Research at the SETI Institute
• Andy Fraknoi - Astronomer at Foothill College and author of Voyages Through the Universe

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://radio.seti.org/, and be sure to check out Are We A Blog?, the companion blog to the radio show.

Kepler Mission to Hunt for Earth-like Planets

Source - NASA Science News for February 20, 2009

Are there other worlds like ours? Are we alone? NASA's Kepler spacecraft is about to begin an unprecedented journey that could ultimately answer these ancient questions.

FULL STORY at

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/20feb_kepler.htm?list894285

Check out our RSS feed at http://science.nasa.gov/rss.xml