NASA is marking two milestones in the search for planets like Earth — the successful completion of the Kepler Space Telescope’s 3½ year prime mission and the beginning of an extended mission that could last as long as four years.
Scientists have used Kepler data to identify more than 2,300 planet candidates and confirm more than 100 planets – teaching us that the galaxy is teeming with planetary systems, that planets are prolific, and hints that nature makes small planets efficiently.
The information at https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/news/kepler_prime_mission.html is an excellent extension to the NASA Explorer Schools featured lesson, Algebraic Equations: Transit Tracks—Finding Habitable Planets.
Link to the NES Virtual Campus home page.