Kepler is a mission to study 156,000 stars using the Kepler telescope up there in space. 706 target data has been released in a report but 400 have not.
The exoplanets found have sizes from as small as Earth to as large as Jupiter. They have also found five multi planet systems which sound quite exciting. The remaining 400 will be released in February 2011 which makes me wonder whether included in this lot are several if not more very earthlike planets.
A while back there were questions asked about why data was not released on the normal schedule and why NASA had extended the period that data could be kept secret. This looks to be a response to this but, again, I just can’t help wondering what the 400 planetary candidates have in store for us?
The New York Times has reported that the scientists on the Kepler Mission had to sign nondisclosure acts keeping everything hush-hush which adds a bit to the mystery.
Take note though that 50% of the planets found could be false positives.
Kepler Search Area
