NASA to Reveal "Big News" From Planet-Hunting Spacecraft Thursday

Alycia Weinberger will participate in a NASA media teleconference tomorrow at 1 p.m. EDT to discuss an intriguing planetary system that is the latest discovery of the Kepler spacecraft.

Who knows. I imagine it's not what a lot of you are probably hoping for.
Could be wrong though.
www.dtm.ciw.edu...

[edit on 26-8-2010 by pazcat]

www.nasa.gov...

Media link for the conference.


If you watch the video included, you'll notice that there are two planets orbiting a sun, one of which seems to be a Gas Giant.

Could be interesting.

reply to post by Falken


Sadly, I'm on audio-only.

Are the charts available online yet?

NASA discovered potential numerous planetary systems, need to be confirmed by other methods to rule dual or triple stars. Or any other astronomical event. For those who are not listening or watching - NASA is now talking about discovering Kelper discovering planetary systems instead of individual planets.

[edit on 26-8-2010 by infinite]

mm.. Hasn't it satarted already? How come their page has not posted the link to the audio stream?

www.nasa.gov...

reply to post by infinite


yes im on audio too, the charts are available in the link i posted.

Wow, They found 2 new planets orbiting 1 star.
The are working out the mass of them and possibly the composition.

They can work out the temp.

reply to post by infinite


Can you please post a link to where you're listening to, I can't find the the audio link?!

ps. Thanks Falken!

[edit on 26-8-2010 by freighttrain]

reply to post by freighttrain


www.nasa.gov...

here you go!

Transit light curve chart.
With possible 3rd candidate.



www.nasa.gov...

Super Earth candidate in Kepler 9 system.

The animations are very interesting. This is quite a stunning discovery.




[edit on 26-8-2010 by infinite]

Originally posted by DrJay1975
It's my understanding that they are going to announce the discovery of a solar system similar to ours that has an "earthlike" planet in the habitable zone. THe planet is about 1.5 times the size of Earth which makes it the smallest exoplanet discovered to date I believe. Apparently there were about a dozen new exoplanets discovered recently and their existence has been confirned by Kepler.

That's my understanding of what the announcement will consist of.

We have a winner.
I knew I had read that here first.

Only if the "possible 3rd candidate" becomes 'Earth-sized' will this become interesting.

reply to post by Larryman


They estimate the third to be aprox. 1.5 Earth.Or as they call it a "Super Earth"

reply to post by Larryman


Urgh, no pleasing some.

NASA has just discovered planetary systems, and the method of locating small planets (instead of Gas Giants) and even helps us to understand the creation of star system. And you think its somehow not interesting?!

Amazing, if this planet has seas, then it's highly impossible alien life could exist within it's waters!
Or if it's so earth like, oxygen, protective atmosphere, we could possibly see forms of early animals depending on how old the planet is.

Exciting stuff

Yep... boring. I turned it off when he said the discovery was "two Saturn-sized planets, in the same star system." If he had said the discovery was 'an Earth-sized planet in a star system's life zone'... then I would have continued listening. I don't care about discovery of any more useless gas-giant planets. How many hundred of them have they already found now?


[edit on 8/26/2010 by Larryman]

reply to post by Larryman


Do you know why? because, up to now, they have only been able to detect gas giants. This is what the conference is about, they now have the capability to discover other planet types. Including full blown planetary systems.

NASA don't just look up in the sky and go "Oh look, it's another Earth!"



[edit on 26-8-2010 by infinite]

reply to post by Larryman


The importance of this is a bit esoteric...

...Sure -- it's exciting that another nearly Earth-size planet was found; but at the same time this is not the first. Gleise 581e is 1.9 the size of Earth. This Planet in Kepler 9 is NOT even in the habitable zone.

HOWEVER, what IS exciting (in a scientific sense) is that Kepler is working the way it is supposed to work. That is, Kepler is not "just another way to find planets", but rather it is a very IMPORTANT method for finding planets, and that is because the mass of the planet can be determined, not just the diameter. By knowing the mass AND diameter, it can be determined if the planet is rocky, like Earth, or gaseous, like Jupiter.

So -- yeah -- finding any planet is interesting, and Earth-sized planets are even more interesting. But more importantly, this "glimpse into what Kepler can do" shows that Kepler will be a valuable tool in the future.

I guess I'm saying that this news conference was more about the Kepler spacecraft than it was about these planets.

NASA Kepler mission

It seems NASA is pretty confident about the third super Earth planet. But we'll have to wait and see.

Here is an list of the current known planetary systems that have so far been discovered. (Kepler 9 is not on the list, yet)

wiki Planetary systems