Keplers 1200 Planet candidates by size and location
on the Photometer array of 42 CCD elements. Credit: NASA/Wendy Stenzel
As the number of Pale Blue Dots increase, so do the chances for finding life on a Second Earth
Updated with more Videos and photos below
With the startling new finding of dozens of
Earth-sized
extrasolar planets, NASA’s
Kepler planet hunting space telescope has just revolutionized our understanding of
Earths place in
the Universe and the search for
Extraterrestrial Life. And the historic
science discovery is based on data collected in just the first few months of operation of the powerful
telescope as it scans only a tiny portion of the sky.
The
discovery of 1235 new extrasolar
planet candidates was announced today (Feb.2) by
NASA and Kepler scientists at a media briefing. 68 of these planet candidates are Earth-sized. Another 288 are Super-Earth-size, 662 are
Neptune-size and 165 are
Jupiter-size. Most of these candidates
orbit stars like
our sun.
Even more significant is that 54 of
the planet candidates are located within the ‘
habitable zone’ of their host stars and 5 of those are Earth-sized. Before today we knew of exactly ZERO Earth-sized planets within the
habitable zone. Now there are 5.
Finding a
‘Pale Blue Dot’ or ‘Second Earth’ inside a habitable zone that harbors water and
environmental conditions that can support life is the ‘Holy Grail’ of science.
Are We Alone ?
“We went from zero to 68 Earth-sized planet candidates and zero to 54 candidates in the habitable zone – a region where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Some candidates could even have
moons with liquid water,” said William Borucki of NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.. Borucki is the science principal investigator for NASA’s
Kepler mission.
“Five of the planetary candidates are both near Earth-size and orbit in the
habitable zone of their parent stars.”
Earth-sized water worlds are the most conducive to the formation and evolution of alien life forms. Water is an essential prerequisite for
life as we know it.
“Kepler’s blown the lid off everything we know about
extrasolar planets,” said Debra Fischer, professor of
Astronomy at Yale University, New Haven, Conn
Kepler's over 1200 planet candidates as of Feb. 1, 2011. Credit: NASA/Wendy Stenzel
Kepler is the first NASA mission capable of finding Earth-
size planets in or near the habitable zones around their parent stars. The mission uses the
transit method to detect the tell tale signatures of planets. The goal is to determine how common are planets
the size of Earth orbiting inside the habitable zone of
stars like our sun.
Kepler measures the miniscule decreases in the
brightness of stars caused by planets crossing in front of them and blocking the starlight. Imagine calculating the difference in light transmission caused by a flea sitting on a cars headlight.
Follow up observations over a period of several years will be required to confirm these results, the scientists explained.
Astronomers expect that over 80% of the candidate planets will be positively confirmed as real planets by utilizing ground based observatories and the Spitzer
Space Telescope.
For an Earth-sized planet orbiting a
sun-like
star inside the habitable zone, transits occur about once per year. Since three transits are required to verify a planets status, it will therefore take about three years to reach a definitive conclusion.
These remarkable
new planet discoveries are based on observations from only the first four months of Kepler’s telescopic operations – May 12, 2009 to Sept. 17, 2009. The space based observatory continuously monitors more than 156,000 stars using 42 CCD detectors with a field of view that covers only 1/400 of the sky.
“Kepler is making good progress towards its goals,” said Borucki
“We have found over twelve hundred candidate planets – that’s more than all the people have found so far in history.”
“Imagine if we could look wider. Kepler looks at one 400th of the sky. If we had 400 of these fields of view, we’d see 400 times that number of candidates. We would see 400,000 candidate planets.”
Keplers over 1200 Planet candidates sorted by size
“The fact that we’ve found so many planet candidates in such a tiny fraction of the sky suggests there are countless planets orbiting stars like
our sun in
our galaxy,” Borucki amplified. “Our results indicate there must be millions of planets orbiting the stars that surround our sun.”
“If we find that Earth’s are common in the habitable zones of stars, very likely that means life is common around these stars.”
“Kepler has shown that planetary systems like our own are common,” said Debra Fischer.
Planets in Keplers Field of View.
Before and after the discovery of over 1200 planet candidates by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope.
“The search for planets is motivated by the search for life,” Fischer added.
“We have allowed the public to participate though the website Planethunters.org,” she added. “And now we have over 16,000 dedicated users. The public is excited to be a part of research and history.”
“Thanks to Kepler for this treasure chest of data!” Fisher concluded.
Kepler is just the first step in finding Earth sized and
Earth like planets. “We are building the foundation for future generations of explorers,” said Borucki.
“Future missions will be developed to study the composition of planetary atmospheres to determine if they are compatible with the presence of life. The design for these missions depends on Kepler finding whether Earth-size planets in the habitable zone are common or rare.”
The first planets beyond
our solar system were discovered in 1995. Up to today there were just over 500 known extrasolar planets.
Kepler now has 15 confirmed
extrasolar planet discoveries and over 1200 possible candidates.
In January 2011,
Kepler confirmed the discovery of its first rocky planet, named Kepler-10b. The
molten world measures just 1.4 times the
size of Earth and is
the smallest planet ever discovered outside our
solar system.
NASA’s Kepler
spacecraft was launched on March 6, 2009 from Launch Complex 17-B atop a Delta II rocket at
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. See spacecraft and launch photos below
Kepler’s science operations are currently funded for three and one half years of operations until November 2012. The mission’s lifetime – and its goal of discovering multitudes of
new planets as small as Earth – can be extended if NASA funding is approved by Congress and the President.
William Borucki – Explains Keplers Discovery of Earth Sized Planets
Science principal investigator for NASA’s Kepler mission, NASA’s Ames Research Center
Video Caption: NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered its first Earth-size planet candidates and its first candidates in the habitable zone, a region where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Five of the potential planets are near Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of smaller, cooler stars than our sun.
Kepler also found six confirmed planets orbiting a sun-like star, Kepler-11. This is the largest group of transiting planets orbiting a single star yet discovered outside our solar system. Located approximately 2,000 light years from Earth, Kepler-11 is the most tightly packed planetary system yet discovered. All six of its confirmed planets have orbits smaller than Venus, and five of the six have orbits smaller than Mercury’s.
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