NASA's Kepler Mission Discovers Nearly 100 New Exoplanets
- 6 years ago
A recent analysis of data gathered by the Kepler spacecraft revealed 95 previously unknown exoplanets.
A recent analysis of data gathered by the Kepler spacecraft revealed 95 previously unknown exoplanets. The team, comprised of scientists from myriad institutions around the globe, made the discoveries through a process that measures dips in a star's light. Such changes indicate that a planet is passing by, and further research is done to confirm or disprove its existence. Thus far, scientists have discovered roughly 3,600 exoplanets that range from being rocky planets similar to Earth or Jupiter-like gas giants. In the recent planet-finding effort, one proved to be particularly promising due to the brightness of its host star, HD 212657. "Planets around bright stars are important because astronomers can learn a lot about them from ground-based observatories," Andrew Mayo, the study's lead author, notes. "Exoplanets are a very exciting field of space science. As more planets are discovered, astronomers will develop a much better picture of the nature of exoplanets which in turn will allow us to place our own solar system into a galactic context," Mayo further comments.
A recent analysis of data gathered by the Kepler spacecraft revealed 95 previously unknown exoplanets. The team, comprised of scientists from myriad institutions around the globe, made the discoveries through a process that measures dips in a star's light. Such changes indicate that a planet is passing by, and further research is done to confirm or disprove its existence. Thus far, scientists have discovered roughly 3,600 exoplanets that range from being rocky planets similar to Earth or Jupiter-like gas giants. In the recent planet-finding effort, one proved to be particularly promising due to the brightness of its host star, HD 212657. "Planets around bright stars are important because astronomers can learn a lot about them from ground-based observatories," Andrew Mayo, the study's lead author, notes. "Exoplanets are a very exciting field of space science. As more planets are discovered, astronomers will develop a much better picture of the nature of exoplanets which in turn will allow us to place our own solar system into a galactic context," Mayo further comments.