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NASA Telescope Discovers 1,000 New Possible Planets

   VOA News  February 02, 2011
   This  is  an  artist  rendering  provided  by NASA one of the smallest
   planets  that  Kepler  has  found - a rocky planet called Kepler-10b -
   that measures 1.4 times the size of Earth and where the temperature is
   more than 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, January 2011

Photo: AP

   This  is  an  artist  rendering  provided  by NASA one of the smallest
   planets  that  Kepler  has  found - a rocky planet called Kepler-10b -
   that measures 1.4 times the size of Earth and where the temperature is
   more than 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, January 2011

   Researchers  with  the  U.S.  space  agency  NASA  say a telescope has
   discovered  more  than  1,200  possible  planets  and  hundreds of new
   multi-planet systems.
   NASA released data Wednesday from the Kepler planet-finding telescope.
   The  telescope  was  launched  into space in 2009 to find planets that
   could  support life. Kepler is pointed at an area of more than 150,000
   stars in a part of the Milky Way galaxy. Â
   New  findings  reveal  there  are  more  planets  the size of Earth or
   smaller - rather than giant planets like Jupiter.
   Jonathan Fortney, an assistant professor of astronomy and astrophysics
   at  the  University  of  California, Santa Cruz, said the findings are
   "exciting"  because  researchers  really  did  not know what to expect
   Kepler to find.
   Kepler tracks a potential new planet by watching it pass in front of a
   sun-like star it orbits.

   Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.

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