Kepler space telescope
Artist's impression of the Kepler telescope | |
| Mission type | Space telescope |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA / LASP |
| COSPAR ID | 2009-011A |
| SATCAT no. | 34380 |
| Website | www |
| Mission duration | Planned: 3.5 years Final: 9 years, 7 months, 23 days |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Manufacturer | Ball Aerospace & Technologies |
| Launch mass | 1,052.4 kg (2,320 lb)[1] |
| Dry mass | 1,040.7 kg (2,294 lb)[1] |
| Payload mass | 478 kg (1,054 lb)[1] |
| Dimensions | 4.7 m × 2.7 m (15.4 ft × 8.9 ft)[1] |
| Power | 1100 watts[1] |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | March 7, 2009, 03:49:57 UTC[2] |
| Rocket | Delta II (7925-10L) |
| Launch site | Cape Canaveral SLC-17B |
| Contractor | United Launch Alliance |
| Entered service | May 12, 2009, 09:01 UTC |
| End of mission | |
| Deactivated | November 15, 2018 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Heliocentric |
| Regime | Earth-trailing |
| Semi-major axis | 1.0133 AU |
| Eccentricity | 0.036116 |
| Perihelion altitude | 0.97671 AU |
| Aphelion altitude | 1.0499 AU |
| Inclination | 0.4474 degrees |
| Period | 372.57 days |
| Argument of perihelion | 294.04 degrees |
| Mean anomaly | 311.67 degrees |
| Mean motion | 0.96626 deg/day |
| Epoch | January 1, 2018 (J2000: 2458119.5)[3] |
| Main telescope | |
| Type | Schmidt |
| Diameter | 0.95 m (3.1 ft) |
| Collecting area | 0.708 m2 (7.62 sq ft)[A] |
| Wavelengths | 430–890 nm[3] |
| Transponders | |
| Bandwidth | X 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] |
|
Discovery Program | |
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 to 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 had detected 2,778 confirmed planets as of June 16, 2023.[14][15]
- ^ a b c d e "Kepler: NASA's First Mission Capable of Finding Earth-Size Planets" (PDF). NASA. February 2009. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 27, 2024. Retrieved March 13, 2015.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
kascwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c d e "Kepler (spacecraft)". JPL Horizons On-Line Ephemeris System. NASA / JPL. January 6, 2018. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
- ^ "Kepler Spacecraft and Instrument". NASA. June 26, 2013. Archived from the original on January 19, 2014. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
- ^ "Kepler Launch". NASA. Archived from the original on March 17, 2010. Retrieved September 18, 2009.
- ^ a b "Kepler: About the Mission". NASA Ames Research Center. 2013. Archived from the original on May 20, 2011. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
- ^ Dunham, Edward W.; Gautier, Thomas N.; Borucki, William J. (August 2, 2010). "Statement from the Kepler Science Council" (Press release). NASA Ames Research Center. Archived from the original on August 10, 2011. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
- ^ DeVore, Edna (June 9, 2008). "Closing in on Extrasolar Earths". Space.com. Archived from the original on June 14, 2024. Retrieved March 14, 2009.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
NASA-20181030was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
NYT-20181030was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Overbye, Dennis (May 12, 2013). "Finder of New Worlds". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 4, 2024. Retrieved May 13, 2014.
- ^ Overbye, Dennis (January 6, 2015). "As Ranks of Goldilocks Planets Grow, Astronomers Consider What's Next". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 7, 2024. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
- ^ Borucki, William J.; Koch, David; Basri, Gibor; Batalha, Natalie; Brown, Timothy; Caldwell, Douglas; Caldwell, John; Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jørgen; Cochran, William D.; DeVore, Edna; Dunham, Edward W.; Dupree, Andrea K.; Gautier, Thomas N.; Geary, John C.; Gilliland, Ronald; Gould, Alan; Howell, Steve B.; Jenkins, Jon M.; Kondo, Yoji; 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. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 2, 2022.
- ^ "Exoplanet and Candidate Statistics". exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu. NASA/Caltech. Archived from the original on October 7, 2024. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
NYT-20181031was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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