Kepler Space Telescope has discovered a new planet in 1284! – Focus

“telescope Kepler is the first telescope to detect small rocky planets in the zone of their stars habitable,” said Paul Hertz, director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA. “Thanks to Kepler, we know that exoplanets are common, and most of the stars in our galaxy have planetary systems, which are potentially suitable for living planet. This knowledge is the first step to solve, whether we are alone in the universe.”

From the beginning of the mission in 2009, the telescope Kepler looked at more than 150,000 stars in one part of the sky to the capture of exoplanets by measuring the almost imperceptible variations in the brightness of stars, which could be caused by moving against the surface of the planet.

the purpose of the mission was to see whether there is space more Earth-like planets, or those on which it is possible to life, thanks to the presence of water.

to check whether the discovered objects can be classified as a planet, the researchers subjected a thorough analysis of the static each of them, often using ground-based telescopes or by setting the radial velocity used to determine the mass of the object.

“Candidates on the planet can be seen as bread crumbs,” said Timothy Morton, a scientist at Princeton University in New Jersey and the main author of the research published in the Astrophysical Journal. “If you fall a few large crumbs on the floor, you can collect them one by one. But if you spill the entire bag of fine crumbs, you will need a broom. This statistical analysis is our broom.”

Current Kepler contains 4.302 potential planets. For now, 99% of confirmed planets is 1,284, 1,327 probable planets is waiting for confirmation, but this requires further study. While 707 facilities are potential fraudsters.

This analysis also confirms 984 objects previously verified by ground-based telescopes or other methods.

The Kepler mission will end in October 2017. In 2018 starts Space James Webb telescope, which will continue the search for life beyond Earth.

In comparison to Kepler, Tess will use a similar method for the observation of the transit of planets when they pass in front of their parent stars. However, while Kepler analyze one part of the sky, Tess will observe the whole sky, and will focus on the brightest up and coming stars.

“With this discovery, we are going to change the way we view the universe,” said Natalie Batalha, working at the mission Kepler. “When we look at the sky and see points of light, think of them as planetary systems and not just that they are stars. We will know how life prevails in the galaxy.”