The Kepler Planet hunting mission
We recently found out about the Kepler Mission which launched at 0349GMT which is 2249EST on 7 March, from Cape Canaveral. The really exciting thing about this mission is that its looking for Rocky planets orbiting their star within what is known as the habitable zone of their Star. In short, these are planets that might be inhabitable.
Hundreds of planets have already been discovered outside the solar system, but they have been very un earth like. They have been Gas giants or Ice giants sometimes whizzing around their star at massive velocities. Its unlikely that life as we know it could easily exist on such planets. Then again who knows. However, when devoting immense resources to finding livable planets or extra terrestrial life, the searchers must concentrate their search on the avenues that offer them the highest probability of success. In essense they must look for planets that are as similar to Earth as possible.
For more definitive information about Kepler , visit The kepler mission homepage .
We recently found out about the Kepler Mission which launched at 0349GMT which is 2249EST on 7 March, from Cape Canaveral. The really exciting thing about this mission is that its looking for Rocky planets orbiting their star within what is known as the habitable zone of their Star. In short, these are planets that might be inhabitable.
Hundreds of planets have already been discovered outside the solar system, but they have been very un earth like. They have been Gas giants or Ice giants sometimes whizzing around their star at massive velocities. Its unlikely that life as we know it could easily exist on such planets. Then again who knows. However, when devoting immense resources to finding livable planets or extra terrestrial life, the searchers must concentrate their search on the avenues that offer them the highest probability of success. In essense they must look for planets that are as similar to Earth as possible.
For more definitive information about Kepler , visit The kepler mission homepage .