9/11/2023 0 Comments Kepler telescope nasa"We started out analyzing 275 candidates of which 149 were validated as real exoplanets. This new phase of Kepler's odyssey was named "K2" and it continues to produce a steady flow of new exoplanetary discoveries, including dozens in this latest study. But, through an ingenious use of the remaining operational reaction wheels and using the slight pressure from the light of the sun, mission scientists were able to keep the mission going, not to stare at the same patch of sky, but to take in a sweeping view from its orbital plane as the space telescope orbited the sun. Although scientists had collected enough data to keep them busy for years, they faced the possibility that the mission was lost. In 2013, however, the Kepler mission was dealt a paralyzing blow: A second reaction wheel (a gyrostabilizer) on the spacecraft failed, meaning it was unable to keep a steady eye on its field of stars. After analysis, thousands of these dips were determined to be worlds orbiting in front of their star, blocking a small amount of light - events known as "transits." This field of view contained more than 145,000 main-sequence stars and, using its extremely sensitive optics, Kepler would detect tiny periodic dips in brightness in some of those stars. Launched in 2009, the space telescope stared unblinkingly at one small patch of sky near the constellation of Cygnus (The Swan). This latest haul brings the number of exoplanets discovered by Kepler's extended mission to almost 300. NASA/JPL-CaltechĪstronomers analyzing data collected by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope have announced the discovery of nearly 100 alien worlds beyond our solar system and one of them is an exoplanet with a 10-day orbit that whips around the brightest star recorded in Kepler's database. It has since become evident that planets around other stars are common and there are likely hundreds of billions of exoplanets in the Milky Way alone. The first exoplanets were detected in the 1990s. An exoplanet orbits in front of its star.
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