Kepler Planet-Hunting Mission Finds 5 New Lightweight Worlds

Space.com ^ | 01/04/10 | Andrea Thompson

[KevinDavis]

WASHINGTON — The list of known exoplanets in the galaxy just got bigger, thanks to the first observations of NASA's Kepler space telescope, which found five new lightweight worlds orbiting distant stars.

"I would like to announce today the discovery of five exoplanets by Kepler," said Kepler science director William Borucki of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., here today at the 215th meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

[dragnet2]

This post is worthless without pics!

In case you weren't aware.....

The spacecraft is not really performing optical imaging, like a typical optical observatory would do, as much as it is using it's instruments to gain the data needed.

Feelin lazy so copied this from NASA.

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The space craft basically looks for signatures of planets by measuring dips in the brightness of stars. When planets cross in front of, or transit, their stars as seen from Earth, they periodically block the starlight. The size of the planet can be derived from the size of the dip. The temperature can be estimated from the characteristics of the star it orbits and the planet's orbital period.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

"Unicron? That amateur? Don't make me laugh!"

[sit-rep]

Thanks for the info, but the smiley face was a subtle hint of joking...