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KEPLER
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents:
Mission Overview
Scientific Objectives
Timeline
Spacecraft
Target Field of View
Transit Method
Johannes Kepler
Links
Image from NASA
Image from NASA
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Artist’s render of Kepler
KEPLER
MISSION OVERVIEW
• Kepler is NASA’s first
space telescope capable of
finding Earth-size and
smaller planets.
Image from NASA
• The mission is designed to
survey our region of the
Milky Way galaxy to detect
and characterize hundreds
of planets in or near the
habitable zone using the
transit method of planet
detection.
Concept art of Kepler
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KEPLER
Scientific Objectives
The scientific objective of the Kepler Mission is to explore the structure
and diversity of planetary systems. This is achieved by surveying a
large sample of stars to:
• Determine the percentage of terrestrial and larger planets there are in
or near the habitable zone of a wide variety of stars;
• Determine the distribution of sizes and shapes of the orbits of these
planets;
• Estimate how many planets there are in multiple-star systems;
• Determine the variety of orbit sizes and planet reflectivities, sizes,
masses and densities of short-period giant planets;
• Identify additional members of each discovered planetary system
using other techniques; and
• Determine the properties of those stars that harbor planetary systems.
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KEPLER
TIMELINE
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Image from NASA
• Kepler is scheduled to
launch on March 6, 2009
from Cape Canaveral,
Florida aboard a Delta II
rocket.
• After a commissioning
period of appx. 45 days,
Kepler will begin flight
operations lasting at least
3.5 years, and will analyze
data for at least 5 years.
Target search region
KEPLER
SPACECRAFT
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Image from NASA
• The Kepler instrument is a specially
designed 0.95-meter diameter
telescope called a photometer or light
meter.
• It has a very large field of view — 105
square degrees, which is comparable
to the area of your hand held at arm's
length.
• Using this wide field of view it will
stare at the same star field for the
entire mission and continuously and
simultaneously monitor the
brightnesses of more than 100,000
stars for the life of the mission.
Kepler Photometer
KEPLER
Target Field of View
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Image from NASA
• Since transits only last a fraction of
a day, all the stars must be
monitored continuously, that is,
their brightnesses must be
measured at least once every few
hours. The ability to continuously
view the stars being monitored
dictates that the field of view (FOV)
must never be blocked at any time
during the year. Therefore, to avoid
the Sun the FOV must be out of the
ecliptic plane. The secondary
requirement is that the FOV have
the largest possible number of
stars. This leads to the selection of
a region in the Cygnus and Lyra
constellations of our Galaxy as
shown.
Kepler's targeted star field. Credit:
Carter Roberts of the Eastbay
Astronomical Society
KEPLER
TRANSIT METHOD
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Image from NASA
• Kepler uses the transit
method to indirectly detect
planets.
• A “transit” occurs each
time a planet crosses the
line-of-sight between the
star it orbits and the
observer.
• Transits block some of the
light from the star,
resulting in a periodic
dimming. This dimming
can be used to calculate
the size and orbit of the
planet.
A planet in transit.
KEPLER
JOHANNES KEPLER
• The telescope is
named after
astronomer
Johannes Kepler
(1571 – 1630).
• Kepler is known to
be the founder of
celestial mechanics
and father of modern
optics.
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KEPLER
LINKS
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Image from NASA
• http://kepler.nasa.gov
/
• http://planetquest.jpl.
nasa.gov/Kepler/kepl
er_index.cfm
• http://www.nasa.gov/
mission_pages/hubbl
e/science/exoplanet_
transit.html
Artist’s view of a transiting solar planet