NASA decided to build Kepler space telescope in 2009 with the intention of discovering more planets that exist beyond the solar system. It’s now eight years and the equipment has brought more data than the scientists expected. The Kepler telescope has found about 4,000 new planets some of which look similar to the Earth.
Recently, the researchers and other planetary analysts converged at the NASA’s Research Center in Mountain View to commemorate the great landmark. The telescope’s mission data is undergoing the final stages of development and the information will be made public soon. The data include about 219 new worlds with about 10 which look nearly similar to the Earth in terms of the size and temperatures.
The Kepler space telescope once developed mechanical problems that landed it into emergency mode in 2014 but the engineers recovered it later. In the original mission, the Kepler found about 4,696 exoplanets and about 1000 of these objects were confirmed to be planets with 12 stars categorized to be the ‘small habitable zone’ meaning they have the potential to support and sustain life.
The newly found exoplanet candidates detected by Kepler bring the number of the planets that resemble the Earth to 49 in total. The discovery will help the world to comprehend the frequency of various planets in the space. The study is also critical in advancing the knowledge of how planets are created.
A team of scientists at NASA has spent about three years analyzing trillions of data that was collected by Kepler so as to pass the information to the public and other researchers who will use the data for further studies. The catalog that will be launched soon will also mark the end of the mission for Kepler space telescope that started eight years ago.
With Kepler, the world has known the existence of other terrestrial planets in the galaxy, a thing that has bothered many planetary experts for years. The collected information could help the next generation to continue uncovering more exoplanets and maybe the possibility of human migration to the planets.
