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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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If Another Earth Is Out There, Kepler Will Find it

NASA telescope designed to look for life-sustaining planets

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(Newser) – If there's truly no place like home, then NASA's new Kepler mission will help scientists prove it. The space telescope, set to launch March 5, will scan the skies for planets with the approximate size and temperature range of Earth. Matches could be candidates for extraterrestrial life; if Kepler finds nothing, it may mean we're all alone, writes Wired.

The telescope will be able to detect smaller planets than its predecessors did by measuring the changes in light from distant stars as planets pass in front of them. The qualifications for an Earth-like planet include similar size, distance from its sun, and length of orbit; if such bodies are common, Kepler should find about 30 to 50, but it can't tell if they harbor life.

Ball Aerospace has successfully completed environmental and operational tests for NASA's Kepler Mission scheduled to launch in March 2009.
Ball Aerospace has successfully completed environmental and operational tests for NASA's Kepler Mission scheduled to launch in March 2009.   (PRNewsFoto/Ball Aerospace & Technologies)
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has successfully completed the critical milestone of bonding the Schmidt Corrector optic to its mounting ring for the Kepler Mission.
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has successfully completed the critical milestone of bonding the Schmidt Corrector optic to its mounting ring for the Kepler Mission.   (PRNewsFoto/Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.)
Kepler will look specifically for planets about the size of Earth, with the same proximity to a Sun-like star and a similar orbit.
Kepler will look specifically for planets about the size of Earth, with the same proximity to a Sun-like star and a similar orbit.   (©Ralph Hockens)
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If we find no Earth-like planets, then we can say with great confidence that Earths like ours are rare. - Kepler co-investigator William Cochran, an astronomer at McDonald Observatory at the University of Texas at Austin

The nice thing about this mission, if it works as well as they hope, is that whatever result it gets is interesting. Either they find something, or they can put a strong limit on the frequency of Earth-sized planets. - UCLA astronomer Benjamin Zuckerman

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6 comments
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AClotfelter
Feb 11, 09 3:42 PM CST
It is absolutely ridiculous to think that if this probe finds nothing "we're all alone"... we can only see a small small portion of the universe, and even then, many of the distant bodies would be seen as they existed millions of years ago, and they could have evolved into life-supporting planets in the mean time. Even if we find a planet that we *think* could be capable of supporting life, we can almost certainly never know if it actually does. Reply
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pplgoncrazi
Feb 11, 09 7:31 PM CST
Isn't it a little single minded to believe that only planets akin to ours in size and temp be the only suitable host for life in the universe Reply
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IN RESPONSE:
NutsInNY
Feb 11, 09 10:04 PM CST
C'est la vie in the Goldilocks Zone...
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Collusive
Feb 11, 09 11:44 PM CST
i agree with the first two points because i would also reasonably expect those things. however, it would also be reasonable to expect NASA astronomers to have a reason for such a theory. Reply
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stw111
Feb 12, 09 3:11 PM CST
If there is other life out there, why don't we just let them find us? Reply
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