Habitable Planet Discovered
April 23, 2009 at 12:00 pm | Posted in Science, Space, Technology | 3 CommentsThe Kepler spacecraft, a mission to locate earth-sized planets around other stars, was launched on March 6. It made it’s first major discovery – it has confirmed a new planet only 1.9 times the size of the earth is in a habitable orbit around the star Gliese 581.
Kepler has been discovering new planets and making more accurate measurements of others. Being within the “habitable zone” means conditions may be similar enough to those on earth to support life.
[updated post to match site information]
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Kepler did not make this discovery: Both planets were discovered by the so-called “wobble method,” using the HARPS spectrograph attached to the 3.6-meter (11.8-foot) ESO telescope at La Silla, Chile.
Comment by Michael— April 24, 2009 #
You’re right – I didn’t ensure the announcement matched the page. Didn’t expect that discrepancy. Kepler confirmed it was in the habitable zone.
Comment by Davidya— April 24, 2009 #
[...] We also now know that over 85% of stars are binary. And they’ve begun to see planets around distant stars. [...]
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