Today at 11 am EDT ( 4 pm BST ) , NASA is going to be take a shit an declaration about novel discoveries from its Kepler mission .
NASA is keep on the tidings under wraps for now , so we do n’t know what it ’s about just yet . Previous announcements like this have concernedEarth - same worldsand atreasure trove of discovery .
This time around , it wait like it might be about the Kepler mission in general , rather than a specific discovery . In ashort sum-up , NASA said they would bring out “ the latest planet prospect termination from the authority ’s exoplanet - hunting Kepler commission . ”
You ’ll be able to watch the declaration livehere , and we ’ve also implant the stream below .
The Kepler space scope was launch in 2009 , and since then it has found thousands of world beyond our Solar System . In 2014 , scientist were wedge torepurpose the missionafter a second gear of the spacecraft ’s four chemical reaction rack ( used to orientate the telescope ) break .
This Modern missionary work , called K2 , has bear on to find plenty of exoplanets around other stars . Kepler finds planets by note the drop make as they sink in front of their star comparative to us . This is be intimate as thetransit method acting .
But for a satellite to be confirm , three passage must be observed . This has made it difficult to find ground - like earth with reach standardized to ours , as observations must take place over several years . still , we are pose good and considerably at finding such man .
“ NASA ’s Kepler place telescope became the first office military mission up to of happen Earth - sized planets in or near the inhabitable zone – the range of distances from a star where liquid pee could pool on the surface of a jumpy major planet , ” said NASA .
“ In the data collected during the four years of its principal mission , Kepler has notice thousands of satellite and planet candidates , varying widely in size and orbital aloofness , helping us good understand our place in the universe . ”
NASA noted Kepler was using its most “ sophisticated analyses ” for planets yet , make the “ most consummate and reliable accountancy of distant earth to date ” . This survey is plainly open up new ways to study exoplanets .
Exactly what this latest promulgation will be is n’t clear yet , so we ’ll have to tune in later to find out . Aside from find out the current above , you may also enquire interrogation during the briefing on Twitter using # AskKepler .
Although a Book of caution , as always , that NASA credibly wo n’t be herald the discovery of life , which people often assume from these announcements . It ’ll be nerveless nonetheless though , do n’t you occupy .
