Friday, April 12, 2013

K is for Kepler Telescope

My A to Z Theme focuses on the amazing breakthroughs mankind is on the cusp of discovering.

There is now clear evidence for substantial numbers of three types of exoplanets; gas giants, hot-super-Earths in short period orbits, and ice giants. The challenge now is to find terrestrial planets (i.e., those one half to twice the size of the Earth), especially those in the habitable zone of their stars where liquid water and possibly life might exist.

Enter the Kepler Telescope: a space observatory launched by NASA March 6, 2009. Its mission: survey a portion of our region of the Milky Way galaxy to discover dozens of Earth-size planets in or near the habitable zone and determine how many of the billions of stars in our galaxy have such planets.

Of the total 2,326 candidate planets that Kepler has found by 2012, 207 are approximately Earth-size. More of them, 680, are a bit larger than our planet, falling into the "super-Earth" category. The total number of candidate planets in the habitable zones of their stars is now 48.

To date, just over two dozen of these potential exoplanets have been confirmed, but Kepler scientists have estimated that at least 80 percent of the instrument's discoveries should end up being the real deal.

More discoveries to come. The question is, are any of these exoplanets capable for life to thrive there. Reference

And yes, this is my new blog. Please take a moment to follow. Thanks!

37 comments:

  1. Nice new blog.

    Amazing what telescopes can reveal.

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  2. I would love to be around when they find intelligent life on other habitable planets. Of course, intelligent may be a relative term. :)

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  3. Hope this one doesn't give you any trouble! :)

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  4. This one looks like a winner. Hopefully it works out. Now to get the word out to everyone.

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  5. Happy to follow your new blog and learn about the Kepler Telescope.

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  6. I'm a little surprised you didn't give yourself a permanent alias to keep the hounds off your scent. Like Thunder Words or Admiral Adjective. Feel free to use either :P

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  7. Hey! Welcome back. I'm writing about keyhole gardens today, and each one has its own worm hole! :)

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    Replies
    1. Dani, you latest blog is not in your blog list and I have a heck of a time finding it for the A to Z challenge posts.

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  8. Your blog looks great, Stephen, and is easy on the eyes!
    And, yes, it's amazing how much we don't yet know about what's out there in the sky!

    Morgan Mandel
    http://www.morganmandel.com

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  9. Thanks BBT Cafe for stopping by and saying hello!

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  10. The new blog looks great, Stephen. So many fascinating things going on in space these days, even though we're not sent up astronauts in quite a while it seems.

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  11. Hope this is the last new blog you need to start!!

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  12. Very nice blog and this post was fascinating. I have always believed that there are other solar systems that could support life and it is exciting to see the possibility being examined.

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  13. Good you're up and running again! Hope it sticks around! GirlZombieAuthors

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  14. Wow. So many habitable planets. Nice to see you're up and at it again. :)

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  15. I echo Alex's sentiment. Must be a pain in the rear end.

    Fascinating about the possibilities found by the Keppler team. I wonder.........

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  16. Love the potential and the possibilities! I hope by the time we arrive at one of these, we've figured out how NOT to destroy it!

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  17. Looks like people are finding my blog. Thanks everyone for stopping by and saying hello!

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  18. There's no reason why there shouldn't be other planets capable of supporting life - but as Jemi says, I hope we don't mess one up if we have to move there!

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  19. Seemed like we needed a telescope to find your blog, but it looks like things are coming into focus. Hope they stay that way.

    Lee
    An A to Z Co-Host
    Tossing It Out
    Twitter: @AprilA2Z

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  20. You've certainly been challenged, huh? Glad to see you here...everything looks great. Thanks for the info on the Kepler Telescope...I wonder if it's keeping track of the 'Blogosphere'.

    Sue CollectInTexasGal
    AtoZ LoneStar Quilting Bee

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  21. Found my way here via facebook. Will update your new info. Looks good! That image really puts things into perspective.

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  22. Wow, that sounds so cool. And that's probably my standard comment when you dazzle us with Science, especially space science. Jeremy had a great t-shirt he designed "blinded me with science".
    Glad you've found a home. Hope this one is permanent.

    Tina @ Life is Good
    Co-host, April 2013 A-Z Challenge Blog
    @TinaLifeisGood, #atozchallenge

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  23. Followed Alex's directions and I'm here. Happy to see you got an official base. Hopefully no more changes because it was hard to keep track on you. :)

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  24. Hi Steve -- Looking for your blog is like a treasure hunt. Not always easy to find your newest site, but always worth the trouble.

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  25. Thanks again everyone! I sure hope this never happens to anyone else. Its been such a frustrating experience.

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  26. I joined and I feel smarter already!

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  27. Found you. You do move around a lot!

    And I think it's only a matter of time before we find our neighbors in space too. :)

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  28. This is so exciting. Glad I've found you again.

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  29. Sheesh. How many blogs have you started since I've known you? lol!

    I've always thought when God gave the command to fill the earth he fully intended for us to fill the universe too. There are many places out there which have that potential. It would be cool to be out there and finding them or confirming them. Maybe one of these days, probably long after I'm gone, the method of travel won't be so time consuming.

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  30. Fascinating! Well, it's the FIRST blog I've seen so I'm hoping you'll leave it a while. Read the last two or three posts...nice stuff, thanks!

    Cynthia http://cynthia-reed.blogspot.com/

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  31. I look forward to news of a habitable planet. I may move there.

    mood
    (Nice to have you back)

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  32. Hi. Thanks for telling me where you are now. I missed following your blog.

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  33. I'm waiting for the day we find a space-dwelling form of life. Sometimes it's good to broaden our horizons and think (or live) outside the box.

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  34. Another #AtoZChallenge blogger shared this post with me because she knows that our fifth child is named Kepler, after Johannes Kepler. Very interesting post. I took an astronomy class in college and enjoyed it greatly (although I must say I didn't really have the math background to understand it all!) Enjoy your new blog home!

    SiouxsiesMusings

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  35. No wonder I couldn't find your blog! It moved. How did I miss that? And here I thought you stopped at I!

    This is a great K word and what promise this telescope holds.

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