Tag: Kepler
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Sophia Space Raises Funding, Plans In-Orbit Demonstrations of Orbital Computing Platform
Sophia Space has announced new funding and a series of planned in-orbit demonstrations as it advances development of its orbital computing technology platform. The company said it is finalizing a $7 million SAFE financing round that is expected to close this week. Investors participating in the round include EverGreen, the NVIDIA Alumni Investment Network, SparkLabs…
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Launch Previews: SpaceX and ISRO to launch rideshare missions into SSO
SpaceX leads the week’s launch manifest with three scheduled missions and, at the time of publishing, is the sole launch service provider behind the year’s first five launches. Alongside two Starlink flights, the company is launching 20 payloads on a rideshare mission carrying an exoplanet observation mission for NASA. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)…
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Data from Kepler reveals reason behind shrinking exoplanets
Located throughout the universe, there are billions — possibly even trillions — of exoplanets orbiting around stars of varying shapes, sizes, colors, and more. Like the stars they orbit, exoplanets also come in many different shapes, sizes, and colors, with scientists classifying exoplanets into one of four groups: gas giants, super-Earths, sub-Neptunes, and terrestrial. Interestingly,…
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With Hubble and Spitzer, researchers discover water-filled exoplanets
Using data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope and retired Spitzer Space Telescope, a group of researchers has discovered two exoplanets that may be largely comprised of water. Located around a red dwarf star 218 light-years away, the two planets are low in density. Furthermore, the researchers, led by Caroline Piaulet of the Trottier Institute for…
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New Earth-sized planet ‘rescued’ from Kepler mission’s old data — and it may be habitable
An artist’s conception shows Kepler-1649c orbiting around its host red dwarf star. (NASA / Ames Research Center Illustration / Daniel Rutter) An alien Earth that just might be habitable has been discovered in years-old records, thanks to sharp-eyed astronomers who gave the data a second look. The exoplanet, known as Kepler-1649c, is only 6% wider…
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After Kepler, exoplanet discoveries continue to inspire
While the Kepler Space Telescope mission officially came to an end on 30 October 2018, starlight data recorded by the observatory continues to reveal new and intriguing exo-solar system objects. Among the recently-announced discoveries from Kepler data include an exoplanet of unusual size and the first potential exomoon around an exoplanet. Kepler – showing us…
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NASA says goodbye to Kepler planet-hunter
Artist’s concept of the Kepler observatory. Credit: NASA Ground controllers have beamed the final commands to NASA’s Kepler telescope, turning off the spacecraft’s transmitters and disabling the craft’s automatic recovery software after the planet-hunting observatory ran out of fuel last month. The last signals to Kepler were broadcast from a control center at the Laboratory for…
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Kepler – NASA’s planet-hunting spacecraft – retired after running out of fuel
As the highly successful Kepler spacecraft ends its 9-year mission, humanity can look back at an instrument that greatly expanded our knowledge of planetary systems around other stars and discovered many Earth-sized and smaller planets, some of them in the habitable zone where liquid water, and therefore life as we know it, could exist. The…
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Farewell, Kepler: NASA’s planet-hunting probe runs out of gas, but mission goes on
Stylized artwork shows NASA’s Kepler space telescope among planetary systems. (NASA Illustration / Wendy Stenzel / Daniel Rutter) NASA’s Kepler planet-hunting telescope now belongs to the ages, with its fuel completely spent and its instruments shut down — but the planet quest continues, thanks to a treasure trove of downloaded data as well as a new…
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NASA’s trailblazing Kepler telescope ends planet hunt
This illustration depicts NASA’s exoplanet hunter, the Kepler space telescope. Credits: NASA/Wendy Stenzel/Daniel Rutter NASA’s Kepler telescope has run out of fuel and ended science operations, closing out a pioneering decade-long mission that showed planets are commonplace across our galaxy, agency officials said Tuesday. The observatory’s supply of hydrazine has run low for months, but…