{"id":9598,"date":"2015-01-06T17:09:19","date_gmt":"2015-01-06T22:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=9598"},"modified":"2015-01-06T17:09:19","modified_gmt":"2015-01-06T22:09:19","slug":"kepler-verifies-more-exoplanets-and-finds-554-new-candidates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=9598","title":{"rendered":"Kepler verifies more exoplanets and finds 554 new candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Further analysis of data from the Kepler space observatory<\/a> results in another big batch of candidate exoplanets plus eight former candidates are moving to the verified category. Several new candidates are in the earth sized range and orbit in their star system’s\u00a0habitable zone<\/a> where water can remain liquid if the atmosphere is dense enough.<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s Kepler Marks 1,000th Exoplanet Discovery,
\nUncovers More Small Worlds in Habitable Zones<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

How many stars like our sun host planets like our Earth? NASA\u2019s Kepler Space Telescope continuously monitored more than 150,000 stars beyond our solar system, and to date has offered scientists an assortment of more than 4,000 candidate planets for further study — the 1,000th of which was recently verified.<\/p>\n

\"15-004_0[1]\"<\/a>Click for large image<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Using Kepler data, scientists reached this millenary milestone after validating that eight more candidates spotted by the planet-hunting telescope are, in fact, planets. The Kepler team also has added another 554 candidates to the roll of potential planets, six of which are near-Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of stars similar to our sun.<\/p>\n

Three of the newly-validated planets are located in their distant suns\u2019 habitable zone, the range of distances from the host star where liquid water might exist on the surface of an orbiting planet. Of the three, two are likely made of rock, like Earth.<\/p>\n

“Each result from the planet-hunting Kepler mission’s treasure trove of data takes us another step closer to answering the question of whether we are alone in the Universe,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate at the agency\u2019s headquarters in Washington. \u201cThe Kepler team and its science community continue to produce impressive results with the data from this venerable explorer.”<\/p>\n

To determine whether a planet is made of rock, water or gas, scientists must know its size and mass. When its mass can\u2019t be directly determined, scientists can infer what the planet is made of based on its size.<\/p>\n

Two of the newly validated planets, Kepler-438b and Kepler-442b, are less than 1.5 times the diameter of Earth. Kepler-438b, 475 light-years away, is 12 percent bigger than Earth and orbits its star once every 35.2 days. Kepler-442b, 1,100 light-years away, is 33 percent bigger than Earth and orbits its star once every 112 days.<\/p>\n

Both Kepler-438b and Kepler-442b orbit stars smaller and cooler than our sun, making the habitable zone closer to their parent star, in the direction of the constellation Lyra. The research paper reporting this finding has been accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.<\/p>\n

“With each new discovery of these small, possibly rocky worlds, our confidence strengthens in the determination of the true frequency of planets like Earth,” said co-author Doug Caldwell, SETI Institute Kepler scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California. “The day is on the horizon when we\u2019ll know how common temperate, rocky planets like Earth are.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the detection of 554 more planet candidates from Kepler observations conducted May 2009 to April 2013, the Kepler team has raised the candidate count to 4,175. Eight of these new candidates are between one to two times the size of Earth, and orbit in their sun’s habitable zone. Of these eight, six orbit stars that are similar to our sun in size and temperature. All candidates require follow-up observations and analysis to verify they are actual planets.<\/p>\n

\u201cKepler collected data for four years — long enough that we can now tease out the Earth-size candidates in one Earth-year orbits\u201d, said Fergal Mullally, SETI Institute Kepler scientist at Ames who led the analysis of a new candidate catalog. \u201cWe\u2019re closer than we\u2019ve ever been to finding Earth twins around other sun-like stars. These are the planets we\u2019re looking for\u201d.<\/p>\n

These findings also have been submitted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement.<\/p>\n

Work is underway to translate these recent discoveries into estimates of how often rocky planets appear in the habitable zones of stars like our sun, a key step toward NASA’s goal of understanding our place in the universe.<\/p>\n

Scientists also are working on the next catalog release of Kepler\u2019s four-year data set. The analysis will include the final month of data collected by the mission and also will be conducted using sophisticated software that is more sensitive to the tiny telltale signatures of small Earth-size planets than software used in the past.<\/p>\n

Ames is responsible for Kepler’s mission operations, ground system development and science data analysis. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, managed Kepler mission development. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colorado, developed the Kepler flight system and supports mission operations with the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder. The Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore archives, hosts and distributes Kepler science data. Kepler is NASA’s 10th Discovery Mission and was funded by the agency’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.<\/p>\n

For more information about the Kepler mission, visit:\u00a0www.nasa.gov\/kepler<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Further analysis of data from the Kepler space observatory results in another big batch of candidate exoplanets plus eight former candidates are moving to the verified category. Several new candidates are in the earth sized range and orbit in their star system’s\u00a0habitable zone where water can remain liquid if the atmosphere is dense enough. NASA\u2019s … Continue reading Kepler verifies more exoplanets and finds 554 new candidates<\/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_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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astronomy","category-exoplanets"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34aWK-2uO","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12612,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=12612","url_meta":{"origin":9598,"position":0},"title":"Kepler mission confirms 1284 new exoplanets","author":"TopSpacer","date":"May 10, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"The latest results from the Kepler Mission: Kepler Mission Announces Largest Planet Collection Ever Discovered NASA's Kepler mission has verified 1,284 new planets \u2013 the single largest finding of planets to date. \u201cThis announcement more than doubles the number of confirmed planets from Kepler,\u201d said Ellen Stofan, chief scientist at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Exoplanets"","block_context":{"text":"Exoplanets","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?cat=46"},"img":{"alt_text":"kepler_all-planets_may2016[1]","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/kepler_all-planets_may20161.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14518,"url":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=14518","url_meta":{"origin":9598,"position":1},"title":"Video: Kepler spots 219 more exoplanet candidates including 10 Earth-sized ones in habitable zones","author":"TopSpacer","date":"June 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"More exoplanet candidates have been spotted by the Kepler space observatory including 10 that are nearly the size of Earth and orbit in the habitable zone of their stars. 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