{"id":6409,"date":"2014-02-09T18:01:47","date_gmt":"2014-02-09T18:01:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=6409"},"modified":"2014-02-09T18:01:47","modified_gmt":"2014-02-09T18:01:47","slug":"kepler-detects-1st-exoplanet-with-new-pointing-system-interview-with-sara-seager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=6409","title":{"rendered":"Kepler detects 1st exoplanet with new pointing system + Interview with Sara Seager"},"content":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Kepler Observatory<\/a>\u00a0suffered a huge blow to its pointing precision last year when one of its reaction wheels malfunctioned. However, a scheme is being attempted that will use solar light pressure to compensate for the lost reaction wheel and allow for partial restoration of the observatory’s exoplanet finding capabilities. \u00a0(For an infographic see\u00a0Kepler’s Second Light: How K2 Will Work 0NASA<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

A test of the new technique looks promising:\u00a0NASA’s revived exoplanet-hunter sees its first world – New Scientist<\/a>.<\/p>\n

WASP-28b is about the size of Jupiter and is in a very tight orbit around its star, with a year that lasts just 3.4 Earth days. Unfortunately, K2 will not be able to carry on with Kepler’s original quest to find habitable Earth-sized planets around sun-like stars. To confirm that a planet is real, Kepler needed to see it transit three times, meaning true Earth twins would take about three years to confirm. The modified space telescope won’t be able to maintain its lock on a star for that long.<\/em><\/p>\n

But the K2 mission will be able to collect data on very young stars and search for planets or planet-forming discs around them. “This will be a window into both star formation and planet formation,” says Howell.<\/em><\/p>\n

===<\/p>\n

Check out this interesting recent interview of Prof. Sara Seager<\/a>\u00a0(MIT) about exoplanets and the Kepler project:\u00a0Dr. Sara Seager, Friday, 1-24-14 – Thespaceshow’s Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The\u00a0Kepler Observatory\u00a0suffered a huge blow to its pointing precision last year when one of its reaction wheels malfunctioned. However, a scheme is being attempted that will use solar light pressure to compensate for the lost reaction wheel and allow for partial restoration of the observatory’s exoplanet finding capabilities. \u00a0(For an infographic see\u00a0Kepler’s Second Light: How … Continue reading Kepler detects 1st exoplanet with new pointing system + Interview with Sara Seager<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exoplanets","category-space-systems"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-1Fn","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11281,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=11281","url_meta":{"origin":6409,"position":0},"title":"Video: Update on the Kepler exoplanet search","author":"TopSpacer","date":"August 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The Kepler space observatory was thought to be out of the exoplanet finding business for\u00a0good due\u00a0to a failure in the guidance hardware. \u00a0However, the\u00a0system was returned to action using a clever technique with solar light pressure to maintain the telescope's pointing stability. The K2 Mission, as this new phase of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Exoplanets"","block_context":{"text":"Exoplanets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=46"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/pZIc_SO-qDQ\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5946,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=5946","url_meta":{"origin":6409,"position":1},"title":"American Astronomical Society conf + New Kepler results + Reviving Kepler + Starshades","author":"TopSpacer","date":"January 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The\u00a0\u00a0223rd Meeting\u00a0\u00a0of the\u00a0American Astronomical Society is taking place in Washington this week. Exoplanets and the Kepler observatory have been a topic of discussion today. Jeff Foust is posting notes from some of the presentations:\u00a0Jeff Foust (jeff_foust) on Twitter. === The Kepler space observatory group released this today:\u00a0NASA Kepler Provides Insight\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/G68sqgRhP2E\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5453,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=5453","url_meta":{"origin":6409,"position":2},"title":"Kepler team investigating promising method to continue exoplanet searches","author":"TopSpacer","date":"November 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this year the\u00a0Kepler\u00a0orbiting observatory lost the ability to point its telescope with the precision necessary to continue its search for exoplanets as it has done since 2009. With just two reaction wheels working, it was thought that the science with the spacecraft would be extremely limited and probably not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"Kepler's Second Light: How K2 Will Work","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nasa.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/673xvariable_height\/public\/k2_explained_25nov_story_0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15346,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=15346","url_meta":{"origin":6409,"position":3},"title":"Video: Google neural network used to discover exoplanet","author":"TopSpacer","date":"December 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A NASA \/ Google collaboration used artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to discover an eighth planet around the star\u00a0Kepler-90i, which resides just over 2500 light years from earth. Discovery of eight planets makes alien system the first to tie with our solar system - NASA Google's AI found an overlooked exoplanet\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/0uzv-tEa7SI\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8846,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=8846","url_meta":{"origin":6409,"position":4},"title":"Citizens science: Planet Hunters 2.0","author":"TopSpacer","date":"September 19, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"With the revived Kepler\u00a0space observatory once again looking\u00a0for planets orbiting other stars, the citizens science program\u00a0Planet Hunters\u00a0is graduating to Planet Hunters 2.0:\u00a0A Brand New Planet Hunters\u00a0-\u00a0Planet Hunters On December 16, 2010, the Zooniverse launched Planet Hunters to enlist the public\u2019s help to search for extrasolar planets (exoplanets) in the data\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Exoplanets"","block_context":{"text":"Exoplanets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=46"},"img":{"alt_text":"Kepler's Second Light: How K2 Will Work","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.nasa.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/673xvariable_height\/public\/k2_explained_25nov_story_0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1640,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=1640","url_meta":{"origin":6409,"position":5},"title":"Kepler’s reaction wheel problems continue.","author":"TopSpacer","date":"April 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"The very successful exoplanet finding spacecraft Kepler continues to have problems with a reaction wheel. 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