By that time, Kepler had identified more than 2,300 planet candidates and confirmed more than 100 planets.īased on data collected by Kepler, scientists were able to announce in January 2013 that about 17% of stars (about one-sixth) have an Earth-sized planet in an orbit closer than Mercury is to our Sun. In April 2012, the mission, closing in on its three-and-a-half-year lifetime, was formally extended through fiscal year 2016 after a review of its operations. In December 2011, NASA announced that Kepler had found its first planet, Kepler-22b, in the habitable zone of a star. In September, mission scientists announced the discovery of a planet, Kepler-16b, orbiting two stars, where we might expect a double sunset, much like the fictional planet Tatooine depicted in the film "Star Wars." A subsequent double-star system was announced in January 2012 and multiple planets orbiting multiple stars- the Kepler-47 system- was announced in August 2012. In both cases, in February and March, the Kepler project team was able to revive the vehicle relatively quickly, within two to three days. The spacecraft essentially shut down science operations as a result of a suspected anomaly. In 2011, Kepler suffered at least two safe mode events. NASA announced in February 2011 that these planets were larger than Earth, with the largest ones comparable in size to Uranus and Neptune. The planetary system orbiting Kepler-11, a yellow dwarf star about 2,000 light years from Earth, included six planets.
That discovery was the result of surveying more than 156,000 stars over a period of seven months. In April 2010, mission scientists published results that showed that Kepler had discovered the first confirmed planetary system with more than one planet transiting the same star, Kepler-9. During its first six weeks of operation, Kepler discovered five exoplanets- named Kepler 4b, 5b, 6b, 7b and 8b (which NASA announced in January 2010). Less than a month later, on May 13, Kepler finished its commissioning and began its operational mission. In order to improve resolution, on April 23, mission planners optimized the focus of the telescope by moving the primary mirror 40 micrometers toward the focal plane and tilting it by 0.0072 degrees. It passed lunar orbit at 04:20 UT March 9, eventually entering heliocentric orbit at 0.97 × 1.041 AU at 0.5-degree inclination to the solar ecliptic. After another first stage burn, the second stage fired to set Kepler on an escape trajectory into solar orbit.
Kepler was launched at 03:49:57 UT March 7, 2009, into an initial Earth orbit at 115 × 115 miles (185 × 185 kilometers) at a 28.5-degree inclination. Due to the modular design, the losses did not impact the rest of the instrument. The blackened gaps in the center and along the top of the image are the result of earlier random part failures in the camera. Kepler's "first light image" of its field of stars in 2009 (left) compared to its final image from 2018 (right). Kepler was designed to monitor about 100,000 main-sequence stars over a period of three-and-a-half years. The diameter of the telescope’s mirror was 4 feet, 7 inches (1.4 meters), one of the largest mirrors beyond Earth orbit. The spacecraft was basically a single instrument- a specially designed 3-foot (1-meter) diameter aperture telescope and image sensor array- with a spacecraft built around it. Kepler detected planets by observing transits, or tiny dips in the brightness of a star that occur when a planet crosses in front of the star. Its scientific goals included determining the abundance of these planets and the distribution of sizes and shapes of their orbits, estimating the number of planets in multiple-star systems, and determining the properties of stars that have planetary systems. Kepler was equipped to look for planets with size spans from one-half to twice the size of Earth (terrestrial planets) in the habitable zone of their stars where liquid water might exist in the natural state on the surface of the planet. The spacecraft was named after the famed German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630).
#Nasa picture of the day kepler series#
NASA's Kepler, the 10th in a series of low-cost, low-development-time and highly focused Discovery-class science missions, was designed to discover Earth-like planets orbiting other stars in our region of the Milky Way. 30, 2018: NASA announces Kepler is out of fuel and will be retired in its current orbit In Depth: Kepler May 13, 2009: Kepler begins its operational missionĭecember 2011: NASA announces Kepler has found the first planet, Kepler-22b, in the habitable zone of a star outside our solar system It discovered more than 2,600 of these "exoplanets"-including many that are promising places for life to exist. NASA's Kepler spacecraft was launched to search for Earth-like planets orbiting other stars.
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