A NASA space telescope launched in 2009 to search for Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars by detecting the tiny dip in a star's brightness as a planet crosses in front of it. It confirmed thousands of exoplanets before retiring in 2018 when it ran out of fuel.
Facts
Observatory TypeSpace telescope (exoplanet-hunting) 1 LocationEarth-trailing heliocentric orbit 1 MeasuresMeasured the brightness of stars, watching for periodic dips caused by planets transiting in front of their host stars. 2 Operating PrincipleOperated with a single photometer instrument continuously monitoring the brightness of about 150,000 stars in one fixed field of view to detect transiting planets. 2 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Kepler confirmed thousands of exoplanets by the transit method.
The Kepler Space Telescope was named by NASA in Johannes Kepler's honor; its planet-hunting transit method rests on the orbital mechanics his own laws of planetary motion describe.
Operated By
Sources
1. NASA Solar System Exploration
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
2. Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
Wikimedia FoundationKepler space telescope, Orbit and orientation sectionQuote, Kepler space telescope, Orbit and orientation section
Kepler orbits the Sun, which avoids Earth occultations, stray light, and gravitational perturbations and torques inherent in an Earth orbit.
2. Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
Wikimedia FoundationKepler space telescope, Objectives and methods sectionQuote, Kepler space telescope, Objectives and methods section
The method used, the transit method, involves observing repeated transit of planets in front of their stars, which causes a slight reduction in the star's apparent magnitude
2. Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
Wikimedia FoundationKepler space telescope, Spacecraft design sectionQuote, Kepler space telescope, Spacecraft design section
Kepler's sole scientific instrument is a photometer that continually monitored the brightness of approximately 150,000 main sequence stars in a fixed field of view.
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