Kepler has certainly spurred additional activity. It has enabled remarkable stellar science." The review noted that "Kepler is not only a unique source of exoplanet discoveries, but also an organizing and rallying point for exoplanet research. NASA’s decision followed quickly on the heels of a biennial expert review that recommended life extensions for all the nine astrophysics missions that the committee considered. Extending Kepler’s mission, which was due to end in November 2012, will give the telescope time to turn up more such planets. In December, it bagged its first potentially habitable quarry, Kepler 22-b, which sits about 600 light years away and orbits a region around its star that is far enough away-but not too far-to support liquid water. It uses a 95-megapixel camera to register slight dips in stellar brightness that signal a planet's passage across its host star.ĭespite launching with some unexpectedly noisy CCDs, the telescope has proved an efficient planet-finder, turning up 61 confirmed exoplanets and more than 2000 additional candidate worlds. The $600 million telescope hunts for exoplanets by staring at a patch of sky containing some 4.5 million Milky Way stars. Kepler was just getting started, having launched in March 2009. The extension, which could keep Kepler in operation until 2016, should be a boon for the hunt for Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars, which requires observations spanning years. NASA has awarded extensions to nine of its astrophysics missions, including Kepler, a space telescope that hunts for planets around other stars.
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