Kepler – Page 5 – planetaria

Kepler discovers tiny moon-sized exoplanet

February 23, 2013 by Paul Scott Anderson

Artist's conception of Kepler-37b, which is smaller than Mercury and only slightly larger than our Moon. Credit: NASA / Ames / JPL-Caltech — Artist’s conception of Kepler-37b, which is smaller than Mercury and only slightly larger than our moon. Credit: NASA / Ames / JPL-Caltech

The Kepler space telescope has added another significant discovery to its growing list – the smallest exoplanet found so far (again) orbiting a sun-like star, it was announced on Wednesday.

Astronomers estimate 4.5 billion ‘Earth-like’ planets in our galaxy

February 6, 2013 by Paul Scott Anderson

There are now estimated to be about 4.5 billion "Earth-like" planets orbiting red dwarf stars in our galaxy. Credit: David A. Aguilar (CfA) — There are now estimated to be about 4.5 billion “Earth-like” planets orbiting red dwarf stars in our galaxy. Credit: David A. Aguilar (CfA)

There was more exciting exoplanet-related news this morning – a team of astronomers announced a new study today which estimates that there are likely about 4.5 billion “Earth-like” planets in our galaxy!

Billions of planets in our galaxy

January 15, 2013 by Paul Scott Anderson

The new year has barely begun, and already it has been a good one for exoplanets. In a previous update, it was reported that the Kepler space telescope has added hundreds of exoplanet candidates to its rapidly growing list. That is exciting enough, but another new study now, similar to other ones, estimates that there are billions of other planets in our galaxy alone.

Kepler space telescope discovers 461 new exoplanet candidates

January 7, 2013 by Paul Scott Anderson

717579main_NewCandidatesbySize-07Jan13_946-710 — Diagram showing the current number of Kepler exoplanetary candidates, listed by size. The numbers of candidates which are Earth-size and super-Earth-size have increased by 43% and 21% since the last update in 2012. Credit: NASA

The Kepler space telescope has added hundreds of more exoplanet candidates to its already long and ever-growing list, it was announced today. There is now a current total of 2,740 planetary candidates, orbiting 2,036 stars.

Kepler gets mission extension in its search for Earth-like worlds

November 22, 2012 by Paul Scott Anderson

706870main_Kepler_timeline_2012Nov14_full_title — Timeline depicting major milestones during the Kepler mission so far.
Credit: NASA Ames Research Center / W. Stenzel

To say that the Kepler mission has been successful so far would be a major understatement – with 2,321 exoplanet candidates and 105 confirmed exoplanets to date, Kepler has revolutioned our understanding of planetary systems around other stars. Not all that long ago it wasn’t even known if any planets existed outside our solar system, and now they are being discovered on a regular basis.

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