spacetoday.net: space news from around the webin association with SpaceNews


Kepler passes scientific tests
Posted: Fri, Aug 7, 2009, 8:04 AM ET (1204 GMT)
Kepler spacecraft illustration (NASA/Ames) Observations of a star known to have an extrasolar planet have confirmed that a new NASA spacecraft should be able to detect Earth-sized worlds around other stars, scientists said Thursday. NASA used the Kepler spacecraft, launched earlier this year, to observe a star 1,000 light-years away where previous observations had detected a planet closely orbiting it. Kepler was able to detect the changes in brightness as the star transited across the star's disk, as well as a much smaller change when the planet passed behind the star. The high quality of the Kepler data also allowed scientists to infer additional data about the planet, including a temperature on its day side of 2,375 degrees Celsius. Kepler, launched in March, will spend the next three and a half years observing one region of the sky, looking for similar transits caused by other exoplanets, including worlds the size of the Earth.
<<previous article   next article>>
news in brief
US and UK militaries conduct coordinated satellite maneuvers
Posted: Sun, Sep 21 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT)

Blue Origin retires a New Shepard capsule after payload flight
Posted: Sun, Sep 21 8:25 AM ET (1225 GMT)

Astra planning first Rocket 4 launch in mid-2026
Posted: Sun, Sep 21 8:21 AM ET (1221 GMT)

news links
Monday, October 13
Key ExoMars Rover part ships from Aberystwyth
Eurekalert — 6:45 am ET (1045 GMT)


about spacetoday.net   ·   info@spacetoday.net   ·   mailing list