NASA has announced plans to send the Kepler spacecraft into outer space. The purpose of the mission is to discover more Earths in the Milky Way Galaxy. The technology works by detecting the dimming of stars caused by planetary movement.
So, how does it know if the object is another Earth? For a planet to be considered another Earth, it must be able to produce water and acceptable amounts of oxygen. To determine whether a planet is capable of achieving this, the telescope uses the light to determine how far the planet is from the sun. If it is too close, the temperature is too hot. If it is too far, the temperature is too cold.
The new mission has been an extremely popular story on many blogs, websites, newspapers, and other media. Most recently, the story appeared on the Colbert Report.
Besides for the Kepler space craft, Nasa is launching Node 3 to be added to International Space Station. NASA is asking for help on naming the addition. Stephen Colbert, the comedian, is trying to get his name on the object, and so far he has received many votes on NASA’s website.
You can vote at http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/name_ISS/index.html. I am also hosting a vote on this website. You can vote below.
cool
I am going to be your first comment
I went to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida over summer, and it was pretty sciency like your blog!
That’s definitely really cool. Who knows, maybe inter-continental relationships aren’t as far-fetched as they seem… try a whole different planet. Yeah, talk about long distance.