Where is kepler in space

Kepler launched in on a mission to find planets outside our Solar System called exoplanets. At the time, very few exoplanets had been detected, so the instrument was peering deep into the unknown. When it launched, Kepler was a marvel of scientific engineering. It detected planets by looking for their transits, which are the small dips in the light of a star as a planet passes between that star and the Earth.

In its first few years of operation, Kepler was wildly successful. It looked for planets in a particular segment of the sky, monitoring about , stars for transits. But in , some of the equipment on the spacecraft that kept it steady malfunctioned. The next year, the situation worsened, and researchers feared that it was the end of the road for the spacecraft.

But later in , engineers came up with a solution, using the pressure of sunlight to balance the spacecraft. Using the Sun, they could keep the spacecraft steady for 83 days at a time.

Kepler and K2 helped researchers discover that planets are incredibly common, even more common than stars. Together, the missions discovered and confirmed the existence of 2, planets and identified many more blips around distant stars that could be planets but are still awaiting confirmation. Many of those worlds are somewhere between the size of the Earth and Neptune, which is unlike any seen in our Solar System. All the data that Kepler managed to gather was safely transmitted back to Earth, and scientists will continue poring over the information for years to come.

But new information is also on its way. Several other exoplanet-hunting missions are in the works , including the much-delayed James Webb Space Telescope. It took its first science picture in August , and by September, it had already identified two potential planets. Kepler has long been about far more than just those raw numbers, however. The space telescope's observations have revealed that planets outnumber stars in the galaxy; that Earth-like, potentially habitable worlds are common; and that planets, and planetary systems, are far more varied and diverse than the limited example provided by our own solar system.

Such discoveries are reshaping astronomers' understanding of humanity's place in the universe and better equipping astrobiologists to search for signs of our cosmic neighbors, mission team members said. Mike Wall's book about the search for alien life, " Out There ," will be published on Nov. Follow him on Twitter michaeldwall.

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Mike Wall. Until then, Kepler will remain in a fuel-conserving hibernation-like mode with no science observations planned. Once Kepler empties its fuel tank, the spacecraft will no longer be able to point its antenna toward Earth, cutting off communications with the observatory. Kepler orbits the sun, and is currently located around million miles from Earth.

Assuming the data downlink in early August is successful, Kepler will resume its science mission Aug. Kepler launched March 6, , from Cape Canaveral aboard a Delta 2 rocket. Managers devised a new way of using Kepler with only two operating reaction wheels, and the mission is currently in an extended phase known as K2.