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If Another Earth Is Out There, Kepler Will Find it

NASA telescope designed to look for life-sustaining planets

By Katherine Thompson, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 11, 2009 2:18 PM CST

(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.

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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. (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. (©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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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 6 comments

riffran

Feb 12, 2009 9:38 PM CST

What cracks me up is the people freaking out and saying " If life is found out there it will deny GOD".....and I agree...so I will go back to the house and pray for forgiveness, for beleiving carbon dating and Darwin...............bwaaaaahahahahaha....sorry I couldn't keep a straight face on that one, but I tried.......nanoo nanoo...live long and prosper.....

Guest

Feb 12, 2009 3:11 AM CST

If there is other life out there, why don't we just let them find us?

Guest

Feb 11, 2009 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.

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If Another Earth Is Out There, Kepler Will Find it