Posted on 02/07/2007 6:24:03 PM PST by KevinDavis
BOULDER, Colorado – The hunt for Earth-like worlds orbiting distant suns will get a big boost next year with the liftoff of NASA’s Kepler mission. That spacecraft’s job is to monitor 100,000 stars in a stellar staring contest intended to detect periodic decreases in a star’s brightness—a falloff of light due to planets transiting their parent stars.
Kepler’s pursuit of rocky Earth-sized planets is a step forward in taking on some tough but major questions, such as: Are terrestrial planets common or rare? What are their sizes and distances?
What’s more, how often are such worlds detected in the habitable zone—the region around a star where liquid water should be available on a planet, perhaps making it a homely place for life?
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
Shouldn't Mr. David have used "homey?" Homely is ugly.
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