Tag: Kepler

NASA Announces Discovery of 1,284 New Exoplanets, 9 in “Goldilocks Zone”

NASA Announces Discovery of 1,284 New Exoplanets, 9 in “Goldilocks Zone”

NASA held a teleconference today to announce the confirmed discovery of 1,284 new planets as part of the Kepler Space Telescope’s primary mission. The new batch of planets, the largest found at any one time, bring the total number of new planets discovered by Kepler to 2.325. Of particular interest, the new batch includes 550 […]

Posted in: Exo Planets
Endless Earths and Alien Megastructures

Endless Earths and Alien Megastructures

It is one of the “oldest” story-lines in science fiction. A ship of intrepid space travelers discover the remains of an incredibly ancient civilization distributed throughout a region of space. Eventually the realization hits, they were the “first ones,” the founders who seeded life throughout the universe. On occasion, Innerspace has suggested that perhaps the […]

Posted in: Space Science
NASA Announces Closest Earth Analogue Yet Discovered

NASA Announces Closest Earth Analogue Yet Discovered

Artist’s Concept of Kepler 452-B / Image Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle NASA held a teleconference today to announce the discovery of the most Earth-like planet yet to be found in the habitable zone orbiting a star similar to our own Sun. The planet, which was discovered using data gathered by the Kepler Space Telescope in 2009, […]

Posted in: Exo Planets, NASA
Trio of NASA Telescopes Combine to Find Water Vapor and Clear Skies on Exo-Planet

Trio of NASA Telescopes Combine to Find Water Vapor and Clear Skies on Exo-Planet

Artists Concept: Image Concept NASA/JPL-Caltech JPL News Story: Astronomers using data from three of NASA’s space telescopes — Hubble, Spitzer and Kepler — have discovered clear skies and steamy water vapor on a gaseous planet outside our solar system. The planet is about the size of Neptune, making it the smallest planet from which molecules […]

Posted in: Exo Planets
Planet Discovery Leaves Astronomers Baffled

Planet Discovery Leaves Astronomers Baffled

Historians may one day look back at the present age with with a sense of envy.  In much the same way we can look back at the Renaissance or exploration in the Age of Sail and wonder what it was like to live in an era when the limits of knowledge were being being tested […]

Posted in: Exo Planets
NASA Discovers First Earth Sized Planet in a Habitable Zone

NASA Discovers First Earth Sized Planet in a Habitable Zone

  NASA announced today the discovery of the first Earth sized planet located within the habitable zone of another star. The planet, named Kepler 186F, is orbiting a red dwarf (M) type star approximately 500 light years from Earth. Estimated to be only 10% larger than Earth, Kepler 186F is the outermost planet in a […]

Posted in: Exo Planets
Kepler Data Confirms 715 New Planets

Kepler Data Confirms 715 New Planets

It is the biggest planet haul yet. NASA announced today the discovery of 715 new exo-planets orbiting 305 star systems, bringing the total number of confirmed worlds outside of our solar system to almost 1,700. The announcement is based on findings from data gathered during the first two years of the Kepler Space Telescope’s four […]

Posted in: Exo Planets
Orbital’s Really Good Week

Orbital’s Really Good Week

It has been quite a week for Orbital Sciences Corporation. Following the successful maiden launch of its Antares rocket on Sunday, OSC reported first quarter earnings on Monday, and they too were strong, showing a 31% growth in operating income.  Today, the company annouced that it has been selected by NASA to build the Transiting Exo Planet Survey […]

Meet the New Neighbors : A Binary System 6.5 Light Years Away

Meet the New Neighbors : A Binary System 6.5 Light Years Away

We are currently living in what many consider a golden age of astronomical discovery in which ongoing analysis of  data produced by various space telescopes such as Kepler and Wise is constantly rewriting our understanding of the cosmos both distant and close. In the latter category comes yesterday’s  announcement from JPL that astronomers have discovered Earth’s third nearest star […]

Kepler Data Suggests Life Bearing Planets May Be Close

Kepler Data Suggests Life Bearing Planets May Be Close

Source : Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics NASA”s  Kepler space telescope, which is searching for planets transiting across their home stars in one very small segment of the sky has already produced volumes of data and leading to the confirmation of  105 extra solar planets. Now, astronomers using Kepler’s discoveries as a baseline, along with a new […]

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