NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope Finds 2 New Planets
August 27th, 2010 - 10:17 pm ICT by Angela Kaye MasonAug 27 (THAINDIAN NEWS) NASA launched the Kepler space telescope on March 6, 2009 from the space shuttle Discovery, and it has since been searching the vast frontiers of outer space, seeking out other planets and possible solar systems, a search which has payed off recently as the telescope has found 2 new planets, bringing the total number of known planets which are outside of the Earth’s solar system to 473.
These 473 planets are located in 402 star systems, and the Kepler Mission has located two planets, similar to Saturn, which have not been seen before. They are 2300 light years away from Earth in a planetary system with it’s own sun-like star.
The star is very much like out Sun, and was named Kepler-9. The two planets were named Kepler-9b and Kepler-9c. They are both around the same size as Saturn, which is our second largest planet.
It is estimated that the Kepler telescope has found as many as 700 planets and recent data which was taken in during a mission which lasted 43 days may have found five other new planets. These discoveries are being reviewed very carefully by scientists before they can be confirmed.
There is also a possible third planet which is orbiting Kepler-9. This planet seems to be one and a half times the Earth’s size, and completes an orbit every 1.6 days. This means that the planet would be orbiting very fast and is probably too close to it’s “sun” to sustain any life.
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