News Archive / Tagged: Kepler Space Telescope

• Kepler data reveals Earth-like planet in star’s habitable zone

  Laurel KornfeldApril 21st, 2020

  Scientists who took a second look at data returned by NASA’s Kepler space telescope have discovered an Earth-sized exoplanet orbiting in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star.

• A spaceflight era closes with end of Dawn and Kepler missions

  Laurel KornfeldNovember 3rd, 2018

  The Kepler and Dawn spacecraft both ran out of fuel, marking the end of an era that transformed our understanding of both our solar system and others.

• Kepler Space Telescope concludes mission that discovered thousands of far-flung worlds

  Jason RhianOctober 30th, 2018

  The Kepler Space Telescope has been on duty for more than nine years. Its mission(s) came to an end when the spacecraft expended the last of its fuel. It leaves behind a wealth of data about exoplanets that has revolutionized humanity's understanding of our galaxy.

• Has NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope detected first exomoon?

  Laurel KornfeldOctober 4th, 2018

  NASA's Kepler Space Telescope may have discovered evidence of a moon orbiting a planet around a distant star.

• Running on Empty: NASA’s Kepler spacecraft pauses observations

  Jim SharkeyJuly 9th, 2018

  The Kepler mission team recently received an indication that the spacecraft is running very low on fuel. The team has paused the spacecraft's planet-hunting science observations and placed it in a hibernation-like state to prepare to download the science data collected during its most recent observation campaign. Once the data is downloaded, the team expects to begin a new observation campaign with the spacecraft's remaining fuel.

• Era ends as Kepler planet hunting satellite runs out of fuel

  Joe LatrellMarch 26th, 2018

  With fuel tanks low and no gas gauge, the Kepler spacecraft is in the final months of operations. The planet hunting satellite was launched in March 2009 and had a planned mission duration was 3.5 years, but the spacecraft has exceeded all expectations and continues to function.

• Artificial intelligence doesn’t find aliens – does find new exoplanets in old Kepler data

  Laurel KornfeldDecember 15th, 2017

  Contrary to what other outlets attempted to suggest, NASA did not announce it had discovered aliens. Rather, a computer trained to find exoplanets by identifying weak signals in data collected by NASA's Kepler mission discovered two new planets, each in multi-planet systems.

• Dust cloud could be reason for strange dimming of Tabby’s star

  Laurel KornfeldOctober 8th, 2017

  The unusual dimming of Tabby's Star, for which a variety of explanations, including an alien "megastructure", have been proposed, is likely caused by an irregularly shaped dust cloud orbiting the star, according to a new study.

• Kepler discovers 10 Earth-like exoplanets from 219 planet candidates

  Laurel KornfeldJune 21st, 2017

  NASA's Kepler mission has released the most extensive list of exoplanet findings: a total of 219 planet candidates, of which ten are Earth-like and occupy their stars' habitable zones – where temperatures allow liquid water to exist on the surface.

• Scientists use Kepler telescope data to uncover details about TRAPPIST-1 planet

  Laurel KornfeldMay 26th, 2017

  Data collected by NASA's exoplanet-hunting Kepler Space Telescope has enabled scientists to uncover orbital information for the outermost planet of the unusual TRAPPIST-1 planetary system.

• NASA’s Kepler provides new data on TRAPPIST-1

  Jim SharkeyMarch 11th, 2017

  Last month, researchers announced that TRAPPIST-1, an ultra-cool dwarf star approximately 40 light-years from Earth, hosts seven planets that are probably rocky, including three in the habitable zone. On Wednesday, March 8, NASA released new data from Kepler's investigations of the dwarf star to the scientific community.

• Kepler images Comet 67/P from afar

  Laurel KornfeldOctober 11th, 2016

  As the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta mission spent its last month orbiting Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, designed to search for exoplanets, captured distant "big picture" views of the comet.

• More than 100 exoplanets found by K2

  Laurel KornfeldJuly 23rd, 2016

  Astronomers utilizing NASA's Kepler spacecraft on its K2 mission have announced the discovery of more than 100 new exoplanets orbiting small, red dwarf stars.

• Alien solar system boasts tightly-spaced planets, unusual orbits

  Florida TechJuly 21st, 2016

  MELBOURNE, FLA. — Tightly spaced planets inside an alien solar system known as Kepler-80 boast a rare orbital configuration.

• Five new planets orbiting a distant bright star discovered by NASA’s Kepler spacecraft

  Tomasz NowakowskiJuly 12th, 2016

  A team of astronomers using the Kepler space telescope has recently detected five new exoplanets circling a bright star designated HIP 41378, which lies some 380 light-years away. The newly found alien worlds are larger than our planet, with sizes ranging from about 2.5 times the size of Earth to the size of Jupiter.