Aug 6 2009
From The Space Library
NASA announced that its Kepler space telescope had detected the atmosphere of HAT-P-7, a known gas-giant planet, within a 10-day period of test-data collection, thereby demonstrating Kepler’s extraordinary scientific capabilities. NASA analysis showed that Kepler’s onboard telescope and light-detecting instruments were at least 100 times more precise than the ground- based instruments that had originally discovered HAT-P-7. The unprecedented precision of Kepler’s measurements of the planet yielded new information about HAT-P-7’s atmosphere, demonstrating Kepler’s accuracy in locating Earth-sized planets. Kepler had launched on 6 March 2009, on a mission to locate Earth-sized, potentially habitable exoplanets.
NASA, “NASA’s Kepler Mission Spies Changing Phases in a Distant World,” news release 09-180, 6 August 2009, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/aug/HQ_09_180_Kepler_First_light.html (accessed 31 August 2011); John Johnson Jr., “NASA Says Kepler Spacecraft Proves It Can Find Earth-Sized Planets,” Los Angeles Times, 7 August 2009.
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