KEPLER TELESCOPE

Kepler instrument

The Kepler Mission is a NASA Discovery Program for detecting potentially life-supporting planets around other stars of the Milky Way galaxy in habitable zone. It is the region around a star where a planet of Earth-like size, composition and atmospheric pressure can maintain liquid water on its surface. All of the extrasolar planets detected so far by other projects are giant planets, mostly the size of Jupiter and bigger.

Kepler is poised to find planets 30 to 600 times less massive than Jupiter.

TRANSIT METHOD

Kepler 22-b
This planet, called Kepler 22-b, is located 600 light Gordini from Earth and 2.4 times in size as

Earth. The average surface temperature is around 22 degrees Celsius. Scientists can not yet say what consists the planet - from rock, liquid or gas. The planet is located 15% closer to the star than Earth, and one year there is 290 days.

The proximity of Kepler 22-b to the star is offset by the fact that the star itself is weaker than our Sun. Therefore, the planet has all conditions for the existence of liquid water, and hence the existence of life. Keplers team: http://kepler.nasa.gov/Mission/team/coi/ One of them are Dimitar Saselov, famous Bulgarian astronomer.

 Thank you for your attantion!

Tsetsa Tsolova Hristova Senior teacher of physics, PG po KTS, Pravets, Bulgaria