Posts Tagged Kepler
Kepler Scooped! (sort of…)
Posted by Rational Dreamer in science on April 21st, 2009
Just a couple of days ago I posted on this blog saying that the Kepler space telescope may already have the first Earth-like planet to be discovered—one capable of supporting life—in its sights. Well, now a team of European astronomers has made me look at little foolish by announcing that they have confirmation of the very first Earth-like planet to be located within a star’s habitable zone, before Kepler’s mission is even fully underway.
The team announced the discovery of a new exoplanet (a planet outside our own solar system), Gliese 581e, which is the lightest exoplanet ever discovered at less than twice the mass of Earth, but it takes just 3.15 days to orbit its star, and even though the star (Gliese 581) is a relatively cool red dwarf star, it is way too close and hot to have a chance of supporting life.
First Light!
Posted by Rational Dreamer in astronomy, science on April 20th, 2009
This is a very cool image. In fact, it’s hard to describe in mere words how cool this picture really is. What you’re looking at is the first image beamed down from the Kepler space telescope, launched into orbit around the Sun (trailing Earth’s orbit) just over a month ago. You can just imagine standing on the bridge of some futuristic spaceship and looking out onto such a scene as this. But the really cool thing about this image is that in all probability, the first ever Earth-like planet we discover outside our own Solar System is somewhere within this picture.
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