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The Kepler mission has spotted thousands of exoplanets since 2014, with 30 planets less than twice the size of the Earth now orbiting in the habitable areas of their stars.
Launched from Cape Canaveral on March 7, 2009, the Kepler telescope helped in the search for planets outside the solar system.
When it was launched it weighed 2,320 pounds (1,052 kg) and is 15.4 feet long by 8.9 feet wide (4.7 m × 2.7 m). the satellite generally searches for "telluric" planets, that is to say that they are rocky and orbit in the orbit of the habitable zone or "Goldilocks" of a star.
In total, Kepler found about 5,000 unconfirmed "candidate" exoplanets, with 2,500 other "confirmed" exoplanets that scientists have since shown to be real.
Kepler is currently on a mission 'K2 & # 39; to discover more exoplanets.
K2 is the second mission for the spacecraft and was necessitated by the desire that two reaction wheels on the spacecraft failed.
These wheels control the direction and altitude of the spacecraft and help direct it in the right direction.
The modified mission looks at exoplanets around red dwarf stars.
While the planet found thousands of exoplanets during its eight-year mission, five in particular came out.
Kepler-452b, nicknamed "Earth 2.0", shares many features with our planet despite its position at 1,400 light-years away. It was found by NASA's Kepler telescope in 2014
1) & # 39; Earth 2.0 & # 39;
In 2014, the telescope made one of its greatest discoveries by spotting the exoplanet Kepler-452b, dubbed "Earth 2.0". The object shares many features with our planet despite its position at 1,400 light-years away.
It has an orbit similar to that of the Earth, receives about the same amount of sunlight and has the same length of the year
If the planet hosts life, but if the plants are there transferred, they will likely survive.
2) The first planet found in orbit around two stars
Kepler finds a planet in orbit around two stars. stars, known as a binary star system, in 2011.
The system, known as Kepler-16b, is about 200 light-years from Earth.
Experts compared the system to the famous "double sunset" on the home planet of Luke Skywalker, Tatooine, in "Star Wars: A New Hope"
3) Find the first habitable planet outside the solar system
Scientists found Kepler-22b in 2011, the first habitable planet found by astronomers outside the solar system
The habitable super-Earth appears to be a large rocky planet with a surface temperature of about 72 ° F (22 ° C), similar to a spring day on Earth.
4) Discovery of a 'super-Earth & # 39;
The telescope found its first 'super-Earth' in April 2017, a huge planet called LHS 1140b.
It is orbiting a red dwarf star about 40 million light-years away, and scientists believe that it holds giant oceans of magma.
5) Finding the Star Trappist-1 System
The Trappist-1 star system, which hosts a record number of seven Earth-like planets, was one of the greatest discoveries of 20 17.
Each of the planets, which orbit around a dwarf star only 39 million light-years away, probably holds water to its surface.
Three of the planets have such good conditions that scientists say that they have already evolved.
Kepler spotted the system in 2016, but scientists revealed the discovery in a series of articles published in February of this year.
Kepler is a telescope with an incredibly sensitive instrument called a photometer that detects the slightest changes in the light emitted by the stars
How Kepler discovers the planets?
The telescope has an incredibly sensitive instrument known as a photometer that detects the slightest changes in the light emitted by stars.
He follows 100,000 stars simultaneously, looking for drops of light intensity that indicate a planet in orbit passing between the satellite and its distant target. the planet passes in front of a star seen from the Earth, the event is called a "transit".
Tiny dip in the brightness of a star during a transit can help scientists determine the orbit and size of the planet, as well as the size of the star.
Based on these calculations, scientists can determine if the planet is in the "habitable zone" of the star. if it could accommodate the conditions necessary for the growth of extraterrestrial life.
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