Kepler Exoplanets

Many people are not aware of the Kepler spacecraft and it's mission. This is one of the best uses for tax dollars there is. In short: It is looking for planets around stars. Hopefully it will find one that contains life, or has the right conditions for life.

Kepler is a spacecraft launched by NASA in March of 2009. It has a 0.95 meter telescope that is looking at 156,453 stars in a small 12 degree diameter patch of the sky. By measuring the brightness of a star over time the Kepler detectors can determine the details of any orbiting planets.

So far 1202 potential planets have been discovered! Here is a summary of the types already discovered:


  - 68 Earth-size exoplanets with a radius (Rp) of less than 1.25 Earth radius (Re)

  - 288 super-Earth size exoplanets with 1.25 x Re < Rp ≤ 2.0 x Re   - 662 Neptune-size exoplanets with 2.0 x Re < Rp ≤ 6.0 x Re   - 165 Jupiter-size exoplanets with 6.0 x Re < Rp ≤ 15 x Re   - 19 very-large-size with 15.0 x Re < Rp ≤ 22 x Re

The Kepler Spacecraft

Details fo the Kepler mission details can be viewed at kepler.nasa.gov. The SETI Institute has a very good article that sums up the Kepler mission discoveries and data. See this article.

The Kepler sensors are only looking at a small 12 degree patch of sky. Hopefully, in the future, more resources will be appropriated to explore more of the sky.