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Kepler Finds Hundreds of New Exoplanet Candidates
Artist’s depiction of the Kepler 10 system, which contains planets 2.2 and 1.4 times the size of Earth. (NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech)
Kepler mission scientists announced today the discovery of literally hundreds of new exoplanet candidates — 461, to be exact — orbiting distant stars within a relatively small cross-section of our galaxy, bringing the total number of potential planets awaiting confirmation to 2,740. What’s more, at least 4 of these new candidates appear to be fairly Earth-sized worlds located within their stars’ habitable zone, the orbital “sweet spot” where surface water could exist as a liquid.
Impressive results, considering that NASA’s planet-hunting spacecraft was launched a little under 4 years ago (and watching 150,000 stars to spot the shadows of planets is no easy task!)
“… the ways by which men arrive at knowledge of the celestial things are hardly less wonderful than the nature of these things themselves.”
— Johannes Kepler
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Read the rest of Kepler Finds Hundreds of New Exoplanet Candidates (412 words)
© Jason Major for Universe Today, 2013. | Permalink | No comment |
Post tags: candidates, exoplanets, galaxy, Kepler, NASA, planets, Solar System
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2013-01-07 14:33:02
Source: http://www.universetoday.com/99306/kepler-finds-hundreds-of-new-exoplanet-candidates/
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