Help Kepler Find A Planet!

Similar to the old SETI interface, the Kepler project is using the general public to help them sort through huge amounts of data collected by NASA's Kepler mission.  Just takes 5 minutes to do the tutorial and now even YOU can be a planet hunter!  Check it out:

http://www.planethunters.org/

Image Credit: NASA

Scientists Anticipate Kepler Results Released Next Month in DC

Msnbc reports that scientists are planning to release some of the first official results from the Kepler Spacecraft and the European Space Agency's COROT satellite, the most advanced planet hunting devices in orbit. Prior to these spacecraft was the Hubble Space Telescope (pictured) which has done much to bring understanding to astronomers.

Kepler's principal investigator, William Borucki of NASA's Ames Research Center notes: "We have planets to announce, and we will have planets to announce next year — quite a few more, in fact."

These spacecraft are designed to answer two fundamental questions: Are there earth-like planets out there capable of sustaining life? How many are there?  The first official release will provide some insight as to what is being seen and the preliminary comments of the scientists indicate they are seeing some strange and unexpected things.

"I was not prescient enough to anticipate something that we're seeing," David Latham, a mission co-investigator from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, told msnbc.com. "There are some good things coming."


Photo from Hubblesite.org