{"id":712,"date":"2018-02-12T00:19:03","date_gmt":"2018-02-12T07:19:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience2017w211\/?p=712"},"modified":"2018-02-12T00:19:03","modified_gmt":"2018-02-12T07:19:03","slug":"kepler-a-look-into-the-past-to-focus-on-our-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/communicatingscience2017w211\/2018\/02\/12\/kepler-a-look-into-the-past-to-focus-on-our-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Kepler: A look into the past to focus on our future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Where would modern astronomy be without scientists like Galileo Galilei, Nicolaus Copernicus or Johannes Kepler? We probably would not be scanning the stars of the Milky Way Galaxy for\u00a0exoplanets<\/a>\u00a0only 450 years later. We owe a lot to these scientists for their ingenuity.<\/p>\n

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NASA Exoplanet Exploration<\/p><\/div>\n

We have moved on from handheld telescopes in the 1600\u2019s to ones that now orbit the Earth and our Sun. More specifically, I am referring to the Kepler Space Telescope which has been operated by the National Aeronautical & Space Administration since its launch in March 2009<\/a>. In the earliest days\u00a0of astronomy, scientists\u00a0exploration of the cosmos was limited by the technology at the time. The first handheld telescope was created by\u00a0Hans Lippershey\u00a0in 1608, and it wasn\u2019t\u00a0until 1990 when the Hubble Space Telescope\u00a0was launched that we could begin to learn more about our past. Kepler took to the skies 19 years later for a precise mission to understand more about our\u00a0Milky Way Galaxy.<\/p>\n

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NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory<\/p><\/div>\n

Kepler\u2019s job is simple. Launch up from Earth and orbit around the Sun where it will scan the same 150,000 stars in the Cygnus constellations. In doing so, NASA is hoping to confirm the existence\u00a0of exoplanets orbiting stars outside of our solar system. It is remarkable, to think that in just over 400 years we have progressed from an Earth-centric model of our solar system; to understanding and accepting that we revolve around the Sun and finally to confirm the existence of thousands of planets orbiting hundreds of thousands of stars. This is just the tip of the iceberg to discovering life on other planets.<\/p>\n

Kepler uses what is known as the transit photometry method<\/a> to discover exoplanets. This means that Kepler stares at the same 150,000 stars looking for a decrease in the amount of light produced by any star in its field of view. When these dips in light have been recorded various times astronomers\u00a0can confirm the existence of an exoplanet using data analysis. The following video demonstrates the transit photometry method at an accelerated rate.<\/p>\n