All About Kepler

Have you ever heard of William Borucki? I hadn’t until I read the latest issue of Discover magazine. They had a whole article dedicated to him and his project. William is the man behind Kepler. Kepler is the planet-finding telescope that is looking for Earth-like worlds within the Milky Way galaxy. As you probably know already from my other posts, I like the idea of finding other Earth-like planets because they have the potential for life. That is why this article was really interesting to me. 

The story talks about how since the launch in 2009 Kepler has found over 3,000 potential planets and counting. This is super amazing because if Kepler learns of many Earth-like planets then the possibility for life in the galaxy will increase exponentially. Kepler is special because since it is out in space it can gather more information than telescopes here on Earth. That is because it doesn’t have to contend with the atmosphere and other interferences.

After reading the article I decided to learn more about Kepler so I went to NASA’s page for it and learned that recently an extension of the mission got approved. This is great news because it means that more planets can be found! 

Kepler Telescope
Photo Courtesy of www. nasa.gov

I also learned how the telescope works. It uses an ultra sensitive ultraviolet sensor to pick up on the potential planets. It measures the brightness of more than 100,000 stars without stopping. The brightness of a star can predict the presence of planet because when a planet in orbit crosses in front of a star it changes the amount of light. If Kepler picks of changes in the amount of light on a regular basis then that is reason to believe that a planet is orbiting that star. If you want to know more about how the Kepler telescope works by looking at some interactives click here.

Projects like this one are so amazing because they help to discover what is out there and around us. Kepler in particular is cool because it is finding Earth-like planets that are in our galaxy. I hope that no matter what happens here on Earth we NEVER lose our curiosity for what is out there to be discovered! Curiosity is what drives science forward and I hope that will never end.