Kepler space telescope

Kepler
Kepler in orbit
Artist's impression of the Kepler telescope
Mission typeSpace telescope
OperatorNASA / LASP
COSPAR ID2009-011A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.34380
Websitewww.nasa.gov/kepler
Mission durationPlanned: 3.5 years
Final: 9 years, 7 months, 23 days
Spacecraft properties
ManufacturerBall Aerospace & Technologies
Launch mass1,052.4 kg (2,320 lb)[1]
Dry mass1,040.7 kg (2,294 lb)[1]
Payload mass478 kg (1,054 lb)[1]
Dimensions4.7 m × 2.7 m (15.4 ft × 8.9 ft)[1]
Power1100 watts[1]
Start of mission
Launch dateMarch 7, 2009, 03:49:57 (2009-03-07UTC03:49:57) UTC[2]
RocketDelta II (7925-10L)
Launch siteCape Canaveral SLC-17B
ContractorUnited Launch Alliance
Entered serviceMay 12, 2009, 09:01 UTC
End of mission
DeactivatedNovember 15, 2018 (2018-11-15)
Orbital parameters
Reference systemHeliocentric
RegimeEarth-trailing
Semi-major axis1.0133 AU
Eccentricity0.036116
Perihelion altitude0.97671 AU
Aphelion altitude1.0499 AU
Inclination0.4474 degrees
Period372.57 days
Argument of perihelion294.04 degrees
Mean anomaly311.67 degrees
Mean motion0.96626 deg/day
EpochJanuary 1, 2018 (J2000: 2458119.5)[3]
Main telescope
TypeSchmidt
Diameter0.95 m (3.1 ft)
Collecting area0.708 m2 (7.62 sq ft)[A]
Wavelengths430–890 nm[3]
Transponders
BandwidthX band up: 7.8 bit/s – 2 kbit/s[3]
X band down: 10 bit/s – 16 kbit/s[3]
Ka band down: Up to 4.3 Mbit/s[3]
← Dawn
GRAIL →
 

The Kepler space telescope is a defunct space telescope launched by NASA in 2009[5] to discover Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars.[6][7] Named after astronomer Johannes Kepler,[8] the spacecraft was launched into an Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit. The principal investigator was William J. Borucki. After nine and a half years of operation, the telescope's reaction control system fuel was depleted, and NASA announced its retirement on October 30, 2018.[9][10]

Designed to survey a portion of Earth's region of the Milky Way to discover Earth-size exoplanets in or near habitable zones and estimate how many of the billions of stars in the Milky Way have such planets,[6][11][12] Kepler's sole scientific instrument is a photometer that continually monitored the brightness of approximately 150,000 main sequence stars in a fixed field of view.[13] These data were transmitted to Earth, then analyzed to detect periodic dimming caused by exoplanets that cross in front of their host star. Only planets whose orbits are seen edge-on from Earth could be detected. Kepler observed 530,506 stars and detected 2,778 confirmed planets as of June 16, 2023.[14][15]

  1. ^ a b c d e "Kepler: NASA's First Mission Capable of Finding Earth-Size Planets" (PDF). NASA. February 2009. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference kasc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c d e "Kepler (spacecraft)". JPL Horizons On-Line Ephemeris System. NASA/JPL. January 6, 2018. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
  4. ^ "Kepler Spacecraft and Instrument". NASA. June 26, 2013. Archived from the original on January 19, 2014. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  5. ^ "Kepler Launch". NASA. Retrieved September 18, 2009.
  6. ^ a b "Kepler: About the Mission". NASA / Ames Research Center. 2013. Archived from the original on May 20, 2011. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
  7. ^ Dunham, Edward W.; Gautier, Thomas N.; Borucki, William J. (August 2, 2010). "Statement from the Kepler Science Council". NASA / Ames Research Center. Archived from the original on August 10, 2011. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
  8. ^ DeVore, Edna (June 9, 2008). "Closing in on Extrasolar Earths". Space.com. Retrieved March 14, 2009.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference NASA-20181030 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYT-20181030 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Overbye, Dennis (May 12, 2013). "Finder of New Worlds". The New York Times. Retrieved May 13, 2014.
  12. ^ Overbye, Dennis (January 6, 2015). "As Ranks of Goldilocks Planets Grow, Astronomers Consider What's Next". The New York Times. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  13. ^ Borucki, William J.; Koch, David; Basri, Gibor; et al. (February 2010). "Kepler Planet-Detection Mission: Introduction and First Results" (PDF). Science. 327 (5968): 977–980. Bibcode:2010Sci...327..977B. doi:10.1126/science.1185402. PMID 20056856. S2CID 22858074.
  14. ^ "Exoplanet and Candidate Statistics". exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYT-20181031 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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