Kepler Mission

The animation shows several planets in orbit around different stars far off in our galaxy. Each planet casts a moving shadow as it orbits its parent star. We then zoom back from the 100,000 stars being monitored, which are about 1000 light-years away. The Kepler spacecraft watching those stars will record the periodic faint change in brightness produced by orbiting planets. The light from the stars is focused by the optics onto an array of charged coupled devices (CCD). In this way the Kepler scientists hope to detect many hundreds of habitable planets.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• kepler
• exoplanet
• terrestrial
• planets