NASA veic lielāko citplanētu atklājumu

Starp visām nupat apstiprinājumu guvušajām citplanētām 550 varētu būt klinšainas kā Zeme. Deviņas no tām ap sev tuvāko zvaigzni riņķo dzīvības pastāvēšanai piemērotajā zonā; tas ir tādā attālumā, lai uz planētas virsmas varētu pastāvēt ūdens šķidrā agregātstāvoklī.

Pieskaitot šīs deviņas planētas, šobrīd zinātnieku uzskaitē jau ir 21 citplanēta, uz kuras varētu meklēt dzīvas radības.

Keplera teleskopa mērinstrumenti planētas meklē, vērojot periodiskas zvaigžņu spilgtuma izmaiņas. Tās liecina, ka ap zvaigzni riņķo objekts. Ko identisku mēs uz Zemes vērojām 9.maijā, kad Saules disku no kreisās uz labo pusi šķērsoja Merkurs.

It's the single largest finding of #planets yet—the #Kepler mission just verified 1,284 new #exoplanets. "This gives us hope that somewhere out there, around a star much like ours, we can eventually discover another Earth." -- Ellen Stofan, @NASA Chief Scientist. Read more at http://go.nasa.gov/24IOsBH (link in bio) #science #space #NASA @NASAmes #JPL #NASABeyond #bigquestion

A photo posted by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (@nasajpl) on May 10, 2016 at 12:03pm PDT

Planets! Our Kepler mission has verified 1,284 new planets – the single largest finding of planets to date that more than doubles the number of confirmed planets from Kepler. In the newly-validated batch of planets, nearly 550 could be rocky planets like Earth, based on their size. Nine of these orbit in their sun's habitable zone, which is the distance from a star where orbiting planets can have surface temperatures that allow liquid water to pool. With the addition of these nine, 21 exoplanets now are known to be members of this exclusive group. Kepler captures the discrete signals of distant planets – decreases in brightness that occur when planets pass in front of, or transit, their stars – much like the May 9 Mercury transit of our sun. Since the discovery of the first planets outside our solar system more than two decades ago, researchers have resorted to a laborious, one-by-one process of verifying suspected planets. This artist's concept depicts select planetary discoveries made to date by NASA's Kepler space telescope. Credits: NASA/W. Stenzel #nasa #space #science #astronomy #exoplanet #kepler #planet #planets

A photo posted by NASA (@nasa) on May 10, 2016 at 2:11pm PDT