Kepler-138b: First Exoplanet Smaller Than Earth to Have Its Mass and Size Measured
A team of astronomers have measured the mass and size of the smallest exoplanet yet, a Mars-sized planet named Kepler-138b orbiting a red dwarf star…
Kepler Space Telescope News
Astronomers Identify Circular Orbits of 74 Earth-Sized Planets
New research from MIT and Aarhus University reveals that 74 exoplanets orbit their respective stars in circular patterns, much like the planets of our solar…
Kepler and Swift Capture Early Moments of Baby Supernovae
NASA’s Kepler and Swift spacecraft provides new insight into what triggers a Type Ia supernova, allowing astronomers to better calibrate Type Ia supernovae as standard…
Kepler Observes Neptune and Its Moons Triton and Nereid
Seventy days worth of solar system observations from NASA’s Kepler spacecraft, taken during its reinvented “K2” mission, are highlighted in this sped-up movie. The planet…
Kepler Finds Evidence of Daily Weather Cycles on Exoplanets
Using Kepler data, researchers from the University of Toronto reveal evidence of daily weather cycles on six extra-solar planets. “Cloudy for the morning, turning to…
Research Shows Billions of Planets in the Milky Way Have the Potential for Life
Astronomers reveal that billions of the stars in the Milky Way will have one to three planets in the habitable zone, where there is the…
Kepler-444: An Ancient Extrasolar System with Five Sub-Earth-Size Planets
Using data from the Kepler spacecraft, astronomers have discovered a compact system of five transiting planets with sizes between those of Mercury and Venus. They…
Kepler Discovers Small Exoplanets
Scientists have validated eight more candidate planets and added another 554 candidates to the roll of potential planets, six of which are near-Earth-size and orbit…
2014 – A look Back on a Significant Year for NASA
As 2014 comes to a close this short video and pictures look back on a few of the events that took place this year at…
Kepler Detects A Super-Earth Transiting the Bright K-Dwarf HIP 116454
Despite a malfunction that ended its primary mission in May 2013, NASA’s Kepler spacecraft is still alive and working and has detected a newfound planet,…
Architecture of Kepler’s Multi-Transiting Systems
A new study details the orbital architectures of Kepler systems having multiple planet candidates, revealing 899 transiting planet candidates in 365 multiple-planet systems and providing…
Kepler Data Helps Pinpoint ‘Venus Zone’ Around Stars
Using data from the Kepler Space Telescope, astronomers have defined the inner and outer edges of the “Venus Zone” — the point at which a…
Most Precise Measurement Ever of the Radius of a Planet Outside Our Solar System
Scientists have made the most precise measurement ever of the radius of a planet outside our solar system, confirming Kepler-93b as a “super-Earth” that is…
Researchers Reveal New Method for Studying Binary Star Systems
Using data from the Kepler spacecraft, researchers from the University of Washington confirm the first “self-lensing” binary star system. What looked at first like a…
Kepler Discovers Earth-Size Planet Orbiting a Star in the ‘Habitable Zone’
Astronomers have discovered the first Earth-size planet orbiting a star in the “habitable zone,” confirming that Earth-size planets exist in the habitable zones of other…
New ScienceCast Video Explores the 715 New Worlds Confirmed by Kepler
A new three-minute ScienceCast video explores the 715 new planets that were just verified by NASA’s Kepler mission. ScienceCasts: A Sudden Multiplication of Planets Years…
NASA’s Kepler Mission Announces 715 New Worlds
Using a technique called verification by multiplicity, astronomers discovered 715 new planets from Kepler data. NASA’s Kepler mission announced Wednesday the discovery of 715 new…
Astronomers Discover a Very Wobbly Planet, Kepler-413b
Kepler data has led to the discovery of Kepler 413-b, a planet that wobbles wildly on its spin axis and in its orbit around an…