Kepler Searches for Earth Like Planets
News alert: NASA'S KEPLER CAPTURES FIRST VIEWS OF PLANET-HUNTING TERRITORY
NASA's Kepler mission has taken its first images
of the star-rich sky where it will soon begin hunting for planets
like Earth.
The new "first light" images show the mission's target patch of sky, a
vast starry field in the Cygnus-Lyra region of our Milky Way galaxy.
One image shows millions of stars in Kepler's full field of view,
while two others zoom in on portions of the larger region. The images
can be seen online at:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/20090416.html
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The SETI Institute is proud member of NASA's Kepler Mission. The Kepler mission seeks Earth-size planets around other stars. This is the first NASA mission capable of finding planets in the habitable zone of other stars where liquid water may be present on the surface of other worlds. The Kepler Mission will observe for at least 3.5 years, looking for planetary transits to identify small planets like Earth.
The SETI Institute's scientists and educators are:
Dr. Doug Caldwell is a Co-Investigator on the Kepler Mission, the Instrument Scientist for the Kepler Mission. He works at the Kepler Science Office on the whole instrument/detector system.
Dr. Jon Jenkins is a Co-Investigator on the Kepler Mission and leads a software team of seven people for the Kepler Mission. Jenkin's team has developed the software to conduct the data analysis for the Kepler Mission. This is a fundamental function for mission success. Jenkin's team members are Hema Chandrasekaran, Sr. Scientific Programmer, Bruce Clarke, Scientific Programmer, Paul Gazis, Science Data Analyst, Jie Li, Scientific Programmer, Elisa Quintana, Scientific Programmer, Peter Tenenbaum, Scientific Programmer, and Joe Twicken, Sr. Scientific Programmer.
Dr. Jill Tarter, the Bernard M. Oliver Chair of the Center for SETI Research, is a member of the Kepler Mission Science Working Group. Searching for Earth-like planets is a step toward her ultimate goal of discovering extraterrestrial intelligent life.
Edna DeVore, Director of Education and Outreach, is a Co-Investigator on the Kepler Mission, and leads SETI Institute's work in Kepler Education and Outreach. Her education team works in partnership with the Lawrence Hall of Science at University of the Pacific and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific to conduct projects and activities that support Kepler EPO. Edna's team members are Pamela Harman, Sue Lehr, Cynthia Ramseyer, and Brian Kim.
More about the Kepler Mission: