Kepler Space Telescope ~ Fornax Space Missions

Kepler Space Telescope

Introduction:

Kepler spacecraft / Kepler Space Telescope / K2 mission, is a space telescope launched by National Aeronautics Space Administration to discover earth seized exoplanets existing beyond solar system. This was managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory as a part of "Discovery Program" It was launched on March 2009, it has a instrument called "Photometer" which continually monitors the brightness and intensity of stars in the Milky way galaxy. It was also aimed to count the number of stars in the milky way galaxy and also to find the exoplanets lie in the habitable zone. Kepler mission was named after a famous astronomer Johannes Kepler. This spacecraft is contributing more in major discoveries like the Trappist-1 system and many other exoplanets discoveries. After its major discoveries, NASA released a catalogue on "exoplanet discovery".

Spacecraft:

The spacecraft's total mass is about 1039 kilograms, major instruments were camera, mirror and photometer, the telescope used to orbit in earth's heliocentric orbit. The diameter of the primary mirror is 0.95 meter. Its primary mirror has soft focus technology that provides excellent photometry with a range from 20 ppm to 84 ppm brightness.

Launch and Orbital Insertion:

Kepler Mission launch on 7 March 2009

Kepler mission started with the launch on 7 March 2009 at 03:49:57 UTC, carried by Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station located in Florida. It was injected into earth's heliocentric orbit on 7 April 2009, and the image taking process began on 8 April 2009. It completed its first mission phase on 13 May 2009.

Applications and Objectives:

determine the number of planets lie in the habitable zone beyond earth
determine the geometry of multiple planets in multiple-star system
determine the orbital period and luminosity of stars
determine the planetary systems and their members
determine the properties and systems of giant planets

Outcomes upto till date:

2009 - It determined 7,500 stars list from the milkyway galaxy
2010 - It discovered 400 exoplanets and released data on that candidates
2011 - It found 1235 planet candidates and 997 hot stars

68 exoplanets = earth seized planet
288 exoplanet > earth
662 exoplanet = Neptune seized
165 exoplanet = Jupiter seized
19 exoplanet = 2 x Jupiter seized planets
54 exoplanets lie in the habitable zone out of 1235 exoplanets

2012 - It reached to a discovery of 2,321 exolanet candidates

207 = Earth seized planets
680 > Earth seized planets
1,181 = Neptune seized planets
203 = Jupiter seized planets
55 > Jupiter seized planets
48 = Lie in the habitable zone

2013 - It discovered the existence of 400 billion exoplanets
2014 - It discovered a additional of 530 exoplanet candidates etc..
2015 - It discovered more than 1000 planets and 16000 stars
2016 - 1284 new exoplanets

Sister Mission:

In November 2013, a sister mission called Kepler-2 the "Second Light" was presented for the extension of first mission. It would have renaming capability and more photometric precision than Kepler - 1 mission for the study of supernova explosions, star formations and solar-system bodies that include comets and asteroids.

Kepler Data Releases:

Graph of Kepler Discoveries

Scientists planned to release the one year observation data, but this plan was terminated as they wished to release three year data on exoplanet candidates. This catalogue will include the discovery and naming of the planet, radial velocity and habitable planets. Some of the confirmed exoplanets that lie in the habitable zone were listed below,

Kepler-62e
Kepler-62f
Kepler-186f
Kepler-296e
Kepler-296f
Kepler-438b
Kepler-440b
Kepler-442b

Conclusion:

Kepler space telescope contributed to the new world of exoplanet discoveries. It discovered more than thousands of exoplanets and habitable planets including planetray systems. It latest and major work known to be the discovery to Trappist-1 planetary system. NASA had already extended the mission upto 2018 and it will discover the undiscovered, it is expected that the list of exoplanet would cross billions.We dont know how big the universe is, so we can accurately say the number of stars and planets in our galaxy and universe. Human beings are very much interested to know the existence of life beyond solar system.

Helpful Links to know more:

Kepler Mission - NASA Ames Research Center
Kepler Space Telescope Website
Kepler Space Telescope Science Data Center
Kepler Space Telescope Data Archive
Kepler Space Telescope Science Institute
How many planets kepler discovered - NASA

Wednesday, January 3, 2018