Kepler space telescope

This article is about the space telescope. For the style of refracting telescope invented by Johannes Kepler, see Keplerian telescope.

Kepler
Kepler in orbit
Artist's impression of the Kepler telescope
Mission typeSpace telescope
OperatorNASA / LASP
COSPAR ID2009-011A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.34380
Websitewww.nasa.gov/kepler
Mission durationPlanned: 3.5 years
Final: 9 years, 7 months, 23 days
Spacecraft properties
ManufacturerBall Aerospace & Technologies
Launch mass1,052.4 kg (2,320 lb)[1]
Dry mass1,040.7 kg (2,294 lb)[1]
Payload mass478 kg (1,054 lb)[1]
Dimensions4.7 m × 2.7 m (15.4 ft × 8.9 ft)[1]
Power1100 watts[1]
Start of mission
Launch dateMarch 7, 2009, 03:49:57 (2009-03-07UTC03:49:57) UTC[2]
RocketDelta II (7925-10L)
Launch siteCape Canaveral SLC-17B
ContractorUnited Launch Alliance
Entered serviceMay 12, 2009, 09:01 UTC
End of mission
DeactivatedNovember 15, 2018 (2018-11-15)
Orbital parameters
Reference systemHeliocentric
RegimeEarth-trailing
Semi-major axis1.0133 AU
Eccentricity0.036116
Perihelion altitude0.97671 AU
Aphelion altitude1.0499 AU
Inclination0.4474 degrees
Period372.57 days
Argument of perihelion294.04 degrees
Mean anomaly311.67 degrees
Mean motion0.96626 deg/day
EpochJanuary 1, 2018 (J2000: 2458119.5)[3]
Main telescope
TypeSchmidt
Diameter0.95 m (3.1 ft)
Collecting area0.708 m2 (7.62 sq ft)[A]
Wavelengths430–890 nm[3]
Transponders
BandwidthX 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]
← Dawn
GRAIL →

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]

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference kasc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ "Kepler Spacecraft and Instrument". NASA. June 26, 2013. Archived from the original on January 19, 2014. Retrieved January 18, 2014.
  5. ^ "Kepler Launch". NASA. Archived from the original on March 17, 2010. Retrieved September 18, 2009.
  6. ^ a b "Kepler: About the Mission". NASA Ames Research Center. 2013. Archived from the original on May 20, 2011. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ DeVore, Edna (June 9, 2008). "Closing in on Extrasolar Earths". Space.com. Archived from the original on June 14, 2024. Retrieved March 14, 2009.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference NASA-20181030 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYT-20181030 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ "Exoplanet and Candidate Statistics". exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu. NASA/Caltech. Archived from the original on October 7, 2024. Retrieved June 16, 2023.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYT-20181031 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).


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