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NASA launches planet-hunting telescope Friday March 6
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by Amy Judd | March 5, 2009 at 08:50 pm
267 views | 54 Recommendations | 7 comments
NASA will launch their planet-hunting telescope tomorrow, Friday March 6, which will look for Earth-like planets to see if there are other places in the solar system that could potentially support human life. The launch is set for 10:49 pm EST March 6 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
"This is a historical mission," NASA's space science chief Ed Weiler told reporters on Thursday. "It really attacks some basic human questions that have been asked since that first man or woman looked up in the sky and asked, 'Are we alone?'"
Once in orbit, Kepler will be aimed at a star-rich swath of sky between the constellations Cygnus and Lyra in our own Milky Way galaxy. The telescope has two main tasks on its three-year mission: Stare at the stars and stay still.
Photos
340 planets have been found already, but none of them seem able to support any form of life and none are as small as Earth. Scientists look at this telescope as a way for scoping out rocky planets that might be good real estate.
The entire mission will take about three years to complete.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (7)
at 21:30 on March 5th, 2009
Oh ''wow''' so life might come here before it gets set up? on telescope I think we should be doing more with our money here on earth before we go to the cosmos. there is plenty to do with the data already thats already accumitlated from our space missions?
Hey but good story!
at 21:43 on March 5th, 2009
Great news and I look forward to seeing Kepler's photos since it will be standing still. Thanks, Amy.
at 22:19 on March 6th, 2009
Launched right on time! ..set off on its unprecedented mission at 10:49 p.m. ET, thundering into a clear sky embellished by a waxing moon.
What in the world is 3000 light years away?
at 15:58 on March 7th, 2009
Thanks!
at 19:04 on March 7th, 2009
Kepler launch viewed from Tampa.
Kerry Marion has contributed a photo to this story.
at 21:29 on March 7th, 2009
NASA's launch of the Ke[pler space probe as seen from my front yard in Orlando Florida.
oneyeblind has contributed a photo to this story.
at 10:52 on April 23rd, 2009
what if they find out that we r not the only one in this world ?
what if our planet is the best enviroment ? it will be taken from us
i really think there are otheres
i mean we r not that special to be the only smart creature in the world that can think nd improve our selves ...