Posted on 08/06/2009 7:13:14 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Five months after it was launched on a mission to find earth-like planets, the Kepler space telescope has sent back to Earth high-precision images of a planet some 1,000 light years away, NASA said Thursday.
But the real excitement at NASA was over how well Kepler was working, and the promise it holds for the future.
With Kepler only in the calibration phase, the telescope, which was launched in March on a mission to find earth-like planets in the galaxy, sent back to Earth highly precise images of a planet with the unromantic name of HAT-P-7-B.
The images of the so-called "hot Jupiter" planet located about 1,000 light years (around 5.9 quadrillion miles, 9.5 quadrillion kilometers) from Earth were "the first time anyone has seen light from this planet," said William Borucki, the principal science investigator for the Kepler mission and lead author of a report that will be published Friday in Science.
But while the scientists were enthusiastic about Kepler's discovery of optical light from HAT-P-7-B -- Carnegie Institution astrophysicist Alan Boss called it "stunning indeed" -- they were even more excited by the fact that Kepler was working, and working well.
"The real headline is Kepler works," said Boss.
"The implication from this is that Kepler has the ability to detect the transit of an earth-size planet passing in front of a sun-type star producing a very tiny dimming.
"Kepler was launched not just to find exo-planets but its prime mission is to count how many earths there are around sun-like stars in our region of the galaxy. We now know Kepler can do it," said Boss.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Image taken by the Kepler telescope, released by NASA in April 2009, showing a small portion of Kepler's full field of view -- an expansive, 100-square-degree patch of sky in our Milky Way galaxy. Five months after it was launched on a mission to find earth-like planets, the Kepler space telescope has sent back to Earth high-precision images of a planet some 1,000 light years away, NASA said. (AFP/NASA/File)
NASA Kepler
http://kepler.nasa.gov/
2009 August 6. NASA'S Kepler Mission Spies Changing Phases in a Distant World -
WASHINGTON -- NASA's new exoplanet-hunting Kepler space telescope has detected the atmosphere of a known giant gas planet, demonstrating the telescope's extraordinary scientific capabilities. ...these new data indicate the mission is indeed capable of finding Earth-like planets, if they exist....
"When the light curves from tens of thousands of stars were shown to the Kepler science team, everyone was awed; no one had ever seen such exquisitely detailed measurements of the light variations of so many different types of stars," said William Borucki, the principal science investigator....
The observations were collected from a planet called HAT-P-7, known to transit a star located about 1,000 light years from Earth. The planet orbits the star in just 2.2 days and is 26 times closer than Earth is to the sun. ...
It is so close to its star, the planet is as hot as the glowing red heating element on a stove. ...these new measurements are so precise, they also show a smooth rise and fall of the light between transits caused by the changing phases of the planet, similar to those of our moon. This is a combination of both the light emitted from the planet and the light reflected off the planet.
The smooth rise and fall of light is also punctuated by a small drop in light, called an occultation, exactly halfway between each transit. An occultation happens when a planet passes behind a star. ...
The depth of the occultation and the shape and amplitude of the light curve show the planet has an atmosphere with a day-side temperature of about 4,310 degrees Fahrenheit. ...
"This early result shows the Kepler detection system is performing right on the mark," said David Koch, deputy principal investigator of NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. "It bodes well for Kepler's prospects to be able to detect Earth-size planets." Full Release.
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If the images are truly "stuning" they should rename the planet Beber.
Beeber orbits Series.
Thats huge...
Otherwise known as a "star"...
OK—which one is it?
No, it’s not a star. The planet doesn’t have its own internal fusion. It’s a planet.
It’s near the middle, slightly to the left ..... and up a bit. Right around there. Or ..........
Not really...our sun is about 10,000 degrees F on the surface (on the cool side for a star) and the core is about 25 million degrees F.
“stunning” ??
Looks like a bunch of friggin’ dots to me
Yawnnnnnnnnnn. Wake me when you find trees, oceans, clouds, mountains,lakes,birds, fish, horses, etc, etc.. untill then let’s concentrate on something a little faster than 186,000+
miles a second. I wanna get outta here while the getting is good
L
L!
01001100 01001111 01001100 00100001 
show them to us?
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