Browsing: Kepler Space Telescope

The Kepler Space Telescope was a NASA mission launched in 2009 with the primary goal of discovering Earth-sized planets orbiting other stars. Operating until 2018, Kepler revolutionized our understanding of planetary systems by continuously monitoring the brightness of over 150,000 stars, looking for the telltale dimming caused by transiting exoplanets. The mission confirmed thousands of exoplanets and revealed that planets are common throughout the galaxy, including many potentially habitable worlds. Kepler’s data reshaped theories of planet formation and sparked a new era of exoplanet science that continues through its legacy and successor missions.