Solar System observations Kepler has been assigned an observatory code in order to report its astrometric observations of small Solar System bodies to the Minor Planet Center. In 2013 the alternative NEOKepler mission was proposed, a search for near-Earth objects, in particular potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs). Its unique orbit and larger field of view than existing survey telescopes allow it to look for objects inside Earth's orbit. It was predicted a 12-month survey could make a significant contribution to the hunt for PHAs as well as potentially locating targets for NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission. Kepler's first discovery in the Solar System, however, was , a 200-kilometer cold classical Kuiper belt object located beyond the orbit of Neptune. Retirement On October 30, 2018, NASA announced that the Kepler space telescope, having run out of fuel, and after nine years of service and the discovery of over 2,600 exoplanets, has been officially retired, and will maintain its current, safe orbit, away from Earth. The spacecraft was deactivated with a "goodnight" command sent from the mission's control center at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics on November 15, 2018. Kepler's retirement coincides with the 388th anniversary of Johannes Kepler's death in 1630. See also Kepler-22b, the first exoplanet confirmed by Kepler to have an average orbital distance within its star's habitable zone List of exoplanets discovered using the Kepler spacecraft List of exoplanets List of multiplanetary systems List of stars that dim oddly Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler William J. Borucki, the chief investigator for Kepler NASA Exoplanet Archive, online exoplanet catalog Other space-based exoplanet search projects CHEOPS CoRoT Gaia PlanetQuest PLATO TESS Other ground-based exoplanet search projects APF HATNet HARPS NGTS PlanetQuest SuperWASP Notes References External links by NASA's Ames Research Center Kepler website by NASA Kepler Science Center by NASA's Ames Research Center Kepler public data archive by the Space Telescope Science Institute Kepler – Tally of Exoplanets (NYT; October 30, 2018) Strömgren survey for Asteroseismology and Galactic Archaeology Exoplanet catalogs and databases NASA Exoplanet Archive Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia by the Paris Observatory The Habitable Exoplanets Catalog by UPR Arecibo New Worlds Atlas by the NASA/JPL PlanetQuest Space probes launched in 2009 Satellites orbiting the Sun Discovery Program Exoplanet search projects NASA space probes Space telescopes Spacecraft launched by Delta II rockets NASA programs Derelict space probes Space probes decommissioned in 2018