This is an awesome post. I like how you went into detail about the spacecraft. Can’t wait to hear more about the mission.
Sad that Kepler is not completely perfect. But as said, little effect. I found one that is equal to the beautiful planet Earth, with beautiful beaches, mountains, rivers and some tasty fruit for us to do a juice. God forbid! I believe that the investigation of regions similar to the Earth (edges of the Milky Way, where there is less “turbulence” gravitational) may harbor habitable planets around other stars. Good luck to the team of Kepler, is a good luck to us all!
Thank you very much for the update! Do we have an expectation of when the next report of results will be available and how many targets are being worked by the follow-up groups currently?
Thanks.
Thank you for this information, even though I discovered it more than a month after you posted it. It is wonderful to get a bit of info about this amazing mission, and you seem to be one of very few who realize there are interested people “out there”.
Among my friends interested in astronomy there is surprise about how little information has been revealed about Kepler. As you say there is almost a years worth of data, and only about the first six weeks has been confirmed and reported. Obviously, to confirm the data takes time, and the field has been in a bad place for most of the ground based instruments during the winter. But there should be lots of people looking at preliminary data at least in a statistical way. To think that the interested public can’t handle thoughts and results that are given as preliminary possibilities is to underestimate their intelligence( I realize this may not be true for the media) Anyway, this is an incredible time of learning for mankind, and bureaucracy always has a tendency to withhold. The current policy could make it 8 to 10 years before the results of interest get discussed, although, I’m sure it won’t be that bad. At any rate thank you for the info, and you are not in anyway responsible for my rant. I even sense you have some frustration with the lack of communication. I look forward to any new posts..
Thank you for this information, even though I discovered it more than a month after you posted it. It is wonderful to get a bit of info about this amazing mission, and you seem to be one of very few who realize there are interested people “out there”.
Among my friends interested in astronomy there is surprise about how little information has been revealed about Kepler. As you say there is almost a years worth of data, and only about the first six weeks has been confirmed and reported. Obviously, to confirm the data takes time, and the field has been in a bad place for most of the ground based instruments during the winter. But there should be lots of people looking at preliminary data at least in a statistical way. To think that the interested public can’t handle thoughts and results that are given as preliminary possibilities is to underestimate their intelligence( I realize this may not be true for the media) Anyway, this is an incredible time of learning for mankind, and bureaucracy always has a tendency to withhold. The current policy could make it 8 to 10 years before the results of interest get discussed, although, I’m sure it won’t be that bad. At any rate thank you for the info, and you are not in anyway responsible for my rant. I even sense you have some frustration with the lack of communication. I look forward to any new posts..
Aw, it’s so sad that one of your modules died. I hope you guys will fix it. Kepler is my favorite mission.
Good luck with the module and the rest of the data collection and analysis.
Charlie , thanks for the update . Keep up the good work . As long as we learn better ways to look after this planet it will be worth it .
Best regards ,
Dave
thank you for the detailed update, keep them coming you have a devoted public!!!
Greetings from Brazil!
Thank you very much for this update. Kepler is my favorite mission and as I am not really a patient guy, I was getting frustrated with all this time without information. I got many friends in my country who are also very interested on Kepler’s mission. Despite the bad news about the module, I am pretty sure that this mission is going to change people’s mind around the world.
Please, keep us updated!
Thank-you for the information. I am very interested in any information you have on kepler!!! I appreciate your time in posting this. Looking forward to new information and new pictures from Kepler this april 2010. Hope it will show many more planets and hopefully an earth like one. In the meantime we need to take care of our earth in the event we finally find new life forms!!!
I am little disappointed, in 1 year of watching 100.000 stars you only found 5 planets witch have 4day orbit time, so this 5 planets took 4day x 4 transit times = 16 days( time to discover), when will be the next discoveries announced ?
Good luck !
Thank you for the informative post, I look forward to reading more in the future.
David Zilar
The date on this blog post is Feb. 18, but it did not become publicly visible until about a month later. At least it did not appear for me and I have been checking this page frequently.
Just FYI, for those anxiously awaiting more data: “Telescope team may be allowed to sit on exoplanet data” (NASA panel agrees to Kepler team request to withhold key observations.) from the nature.com website, in NEWS for April 14 2010. See the article for details.
Good to read some more info on the Kepler mission. I actually made this page my home when i start up my browser every morning. I always quickly check the “planet count”. I have the feeling i am not the only one doing this. I really want to see that number jump to 3 digits very quickly!
one suggestion to your team (if you ever get bored 😉 ) you could make a 3d map and locate the so far found planets in there. Many people would be more fascinated if the see more than just tables with numbers. Especially kids. there should be a 3D map where you can place the 400 something exoplanets and then click them to display details. Much more fascinating than a list of pure data…
pressing my thumbs you will find some nice 22 degrees room temperature planets somewhere
Just curious – You mentioned you had 12 months worth of data, it takes 3 transits to confirm a planet, so I would think planets can now be confirmed that have orbital periods as long as 4 months. This exceeds the orbital period of our own solar system planet Mercury.
So far the Kepler Science team have announced 5 planets with orbital periods of only a few days. Can you tell us how many leads you have for orbital periods of up to 4 months (understanding they will need to be confirmed by ground based telescopes)? Do you know when there will be another announcement?
Thanks!
Joe
Any chance of some news on when we might get to see some more data? I guess I am one of many people “hungry” for more info.
Regards
I have been taking a keen interest in this project for the past year and looking forward to the results over the next few years.
Its hard to overstate its importance.
It may take time to sink in but if the results show just how common planetary systems comparable to our own are, there will be little room for doubt that we cannot be alone.
This is an awesome post. I like how you went into detail about the spacecraft. Can’t wait to hear more about the mission.
Sad that Kepler is not completely perfect. But as said, little effect. I found one that is equal to the beautiful planet Earth, with beautiful beaches, mountains, rivers and some tasty fruit for us to do a juice. God forbid!
I believe that the investigation of regions similar to the Earth (edges of the Milky Way, where there is less “turbulence” gravitational) may harbor habitable planets around other stars. Good luck to the team of Kepler, is a good luck to us all!
Thank you very much for the update! Do we have an expectation of when the next report of results will be available and how many targets are being worked by the follow-up groups currently?
Thanks.
Thank you for this information, even though I discovered it more than a month after you posted it. It is wonderful to get a bit of info about this amazing mission, and you seem to be one of very few who realize there are interested people “out there”.
Among my friends interested in astronomy there is surprise about how little information has been revealed about Kepler. As you say there is almost a years worth of data, and only about the first six weeks has been confirmed and reported. Obviously, to confirm the data takes time, and the field has been in a bad place for most of the ground based instruments during the winter. But there should be lots of people looking at preliminary data at least in a statistical way.
To think that the interested public can’t handle thoughts and results that are given as preliminary possibilities is to underestimate their intelligence( I realize this may not be true for the media) Anyway, this is an incredible time of learning for mankind, and bureaucracy always has a tendency to withhold. The current policy could make it 8 to 10 years before the results of interest get discussed, although, I’m sure it won’t be that bad.
At any rate thank you for the info, and you are not in anyway responsible for my rant. I even sense you have some frustration with the lack of communication. I look forward to any new posts..
Thank you for this information, even though I discovered it more than a month after you posted it. It is wonderful to get a bit of info about this amazing mission, and you seem to be one of very few who realize there are interested people “out there”.
Among my friends interested in astronomy there is surprise about how little information has been revealed about Kepler. As you say there is almost a years worth of data, and only about the first six weeks has been confirmed and reported. Obviously, to confirm the data takes time, and the field has been in a bad place for most of the ground based instruments during the winter. But there should be lots of people looking at preliminary data at least in a statistical way.
To think that the interested public can’t handle thoughts and results that are given as preliminary possibilities is to underestimate their intelligence( I realize this may not be true for the media) Anyway, this is an incredible time of learning for mankind, and bureaucracy always has a tendency to withhold. The current policy could make it 8 to 10 years before the results of interest get discussed, although, I’m sure it won’t be that bad.
At any rate thank you for the info, and you are not in anyway responsible for my rant. I even sense you have some frustration with the lack of communication. I look forward to any new posts..
Aw, it’s so sad that one of your modules died. I hope you guys will fix it. Kepler is my favorite mission.
Good luck with the module and the rest of the data collection and analysis.
Charlie , thanks for the update . Keep up the good work . As long as we learn better ways to look after this planet it will be worth it .
Best regards ,
Dave
thank you for the detailed update, keep them coming you have a devoted public!!!
Greetings from Brazil!
Thank you very much for this update. Kepler is my favorite mission and as I am not really a patient guy, I was getting frustrated with all this time without information. I got many friends in my country who are also very interested on Kepler’s mission. Despite the bad news about the module, I am pretty sure that this mission is going to change people’s mind around the world.
Please, keep us updated!
Thank-you for the information. I am very interested in any information you have on kepler!!! I appreciate your time in posting this. Looking forward to new information and new pictures from Kepler this april 2010. Hope it will show many more planets and hopefully an earth like one. In the meantime we need to take care of our earth in the event we finally find new life forms!!!
I am little disappointed, in 1 year of watching 100.000 stars you only found 5 planets witch have 4day orbit time, so this 5 planets took 4day x 4 transit times = 16 days( time to discover), when will be the next discoveries announced ?
Good luck !
Thank you for the informative post, I look forward to reading more in the future.
David Zilar
The date on this blog post is Feb. 18, but it did not become publicly visible until about a month later. At least it did not appear for me and I have been checking this page frequently.
Just FYI, for those anxiously awaiting more data: “Telescope team may be allowed to sit on exoplanet data” (NASA panel agrees to Kepler team request to withhold key observations.) from the nature.com website, in NEWS for April 14 2010. See the article for details.
Good to read some more info on the Kepler mission. I actually made this page my home when i start up my browser every morning. I always quickly check the “planet count”. I have the feeling i am not the only one doing this. I really want to see that number jump to 3 digits very quickly!
one suggestion to your team (if you ever get bored 😉 ) you could make a 3d map and locate the so far found planets in there. Many people would be more fascinated if the see more than just tables with numbers. Especially kids. there should be a 3D map where you can place the 400 something exoplanets and then click them to display details. Much more fascinating than a list of pure data…
pressing my thumbs you will find some nice 22 degrees room temperature planets somewhere
Just curious – You mentioned you had 12 months worth of data, it takes 3 transits to confirm a planet, so I would think planets can now be confirmed that have orbital periods as long as 4 months. This exceeds the orbital period of our own solar system planet Mercury.
So far the Kepler Science team have announced 5 planets with orbital periods of only a few days. Can you tell us how many leads you have for orbital periods of up to 4 months (understanding they will need to be confirmed by ground based telescopes)? Do you know when there will be another announcement?
Thanks!
Joe
Any chance of some news on when we might get to see some more data? I guess I am one of many people “hungry” for more info.
Regards
I have been taking a keen interest in this project for the past year and looking forward to the results over the next few years.
Its hard to overstate its importance.
It may take time to sink in but if the results show just how common planetary systems comparable to our own are, there will be little room for doubt that we cannot be alone.