Kepler is a spacecraft telescope observatory launched by NASA on March 7th, 2009 with the primary purpose of discovering Earth-like planets orbiting other stars. The observatory named after astronomer Johannes Kepler, is designed to survey our section of the Milky Way in order to discover hundreds of Earth-sized extrasolar planets with livable conditions, to estimate how many stars are found within our galaxy, and create a better understanding of how planetary system’s light years away compare to our own. Kepler has a photometer that monitors the brightness of thousands of main sequence stars in order to analyze any dimming detected that could be caused by extrasolar planets. Kepler has been able to make multiple discoveries since its launch
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The planets found by Kepler are all located within a system called Kepler-37. This planetary system is located in the constellation Lyra about 200 light-years from Earth. The system contains three Earth-like exoplanets; these planets are named Kepler-37b, Kepler-37c, and Kepler 37d. Kepler-37b is the smallest planet of the three, being slightly larger than our moon. It was the most difficult planet to detect because of its small size. This moon-sized planet and its two companion planets found by NASA’s Kepler mission were detected while research scientists embarked on the discovery of a planets with “habitable zones” near a star similar to our sun. Another key characteristic researchers were looking for was an orbiting planetary system that …show more content…
When a certain surface area from a star is blocked from a planet transitioning in front of it, the telescope is able to detect that percentage of light and draw conclusions based off that. The transiting planets magnitude is discovered according to the dip in the brightness of it revealed. In order to discover the size of the planet, scientists must first go through this process in order to discover the relative size of the host star first. The next test scientists put the Kepler-37 star to was the examination of the sound waves generated by the motion beneath the surface, providing the scientists with further information over the properties found within the star. Just as geologist use seismic waves, the astronomers in a similar fashion probed the interior structure of the star to further their research in the properties of the star. Asterseismology is the technique used here, which could further be defined as the science that studies the internal structure of pulsating stars by detecting their spectra. Sound waves travel into the star and bring information back up to the surface. These waves are factors that cause oscillations that Kepler is able to detect. The smaller stars ring in higher tones while the larger stars have lower tones. The small stars that oscillate the most are the stars that are
The planets found by Kepler are all located within a system called Kepler-37. This planetary system is located in the constellation Lyra about 200 light-years from Earth. The system contains three Earth-like exoplanets; these planets are named Kepler-37b, Kepler-37c, and Kepler 37d. Kepler-37b is the smallest planet of the three, being slightly larger than our moon. It was the most difficult planet to detect because of its small size. This moon-sized planet and its two companion planets found by NASA’s Kepler mission were detected while research scientists embarked on the discovery of a planets with “habitable zones” near a star similar to our sun. Another key characteristic researchers were looking for was an orbiting planetary system that …show more content…
When a certain surface area from a star is blocked from a planet transitioning in front of it, the telescope is able to detect that percentage of light and draw conclusions based off that. The transiting planets magnitude is discovered according to the dip in the brightness of it revealed. In order to discover the size of the planet, scientists must first go through this process in order to discover the relative size of the host star first. The next test scientists put the Kepler-37 star to was the examination of the sound waves generated by the motion beneath the surface, providing the scientists with further information over the properties found within the star. Just as geologist use seismic waves, the astronomers in a similar fashion probed the interior structure of the star to further their research in the properties of the star. Asterseismology is the technique used here, which could further be defined as the science that studies the internal structure of pulsating stars by detecting their spectra. Sound waves travel into the star and bring information back up to the surface. These waves are factors that cause oscillations that Kepler is able to detect. The smaller stars ring in higher tones while the larger stars have lower tones. The small stars that oscillate the most are the stars that are