NASA’s Kepler Telescope has identified 10 Earth-like planets outside the solar system that are expected to host life due to their right size and temperature. This finding is a boost in the hope for life elsewhere.
Exoplanet: It is a planet that does not orbit the Sun and instead orbits a different star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf. It is also termed as extrasolar planet.
After an extensive search carried out for four years, NASA’s Kepler space telescope has detected a total of 49 planets in the Goldilocks zone.
This number is set to increase as Kepler telescope has so far looked only in one quarter of one percent of a galaxy that holds about 200 billion of stars.
Goldilocks Zone refers to a habitable zone where the temperature is neither too high nor too low.
NASA has announced the discovery of 10 planets as a part of 219 new planets identified by the Kepler telescope as part of the final batch of planets since Kepler was launched in 2009.
Kepler’s main mission got ended in 2013 after two of its four wheels that control its orientation in space got failed. Kepler has identified more than 4,000 planet candidates and confirmed more than half of them.
The number of potentially habitable planets could be lot more as Kepler was only able to identify only those planets that move between the telescope vision and its star.
By using Kepler and other methods, scientists have discovered around 3,600 exoplanets and about 62 potentially habitable planets.
With the launch of James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) by NASA in 2018, chances of studying planets and detecting a familiar atmosphere will increase manifold. JWST will succeed the Hubble space telescope.
Kepler Space Telescope Kepler Space
Telescope (KST) is an unmanned space observatory launched in 2009 by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
It is tasked with determining how many Earth-like planets occur throughout the Milky Way galaxy. It has been designed for a statistical mission and not to probe into the environmental conditions of planets that exist in the so-called Goldilocks zone (Habitable zone) of their stars.
Darubini ya NASA ya Kepler imegundua sayari 10 zinazofanana na dunia nje ya mfumo wa jua ambazo zinatarajiwa kuwa na maisha kwa sababu ya ukubwa na joto lao sahihi. Ugunduzi huo huongeza matumaini ya kuwa na uhai mahali pengine. Exoplanet: Ni sayari ambayo haizunguki Jua na badala yake huzunguka nyota tofauti, mabaki ya nyota, au dwarf kahawia. Pia huitwa sayari ya nje ya jua. Baada ya miaka minne ya uchunguzi, darubini ya NASA ya Kepler imegundua sayari 49 katika eneo la Goldilocks. "Hatua hiyo ilichukuliwa na NASA na Kepler, ambayo kwa sasa imeshuhudia ""kila sehemu ya galaksi"" ambayo ina nyota bilioni 200." Eneo la Goldilocks linarejelea eneo linaloweza kukaliwa ambapo halijoto si ya juu sana wala ya chini sana. NASA imegundua sayari 10 kati ya sayari 219 zilizogunduliwa na darubini ya Kepler mnamo mwaka 2009. Kepler ilifutwa mwaka 2013 baada ya magurudumu yake mawili kuharibika. Kepler imegundua zaidi ya sayari 4,000 na kuthibitisha zaidi ya nusu yao. Idadi ya sayari zinazoweza kuwa na uwezo wa kuishi inaweza kuwa kubwa zaidi, kwani Kepler aliweza kutambua tu sayari ambazo zinaenda kati ya maono ya darubini na nyota yake. Kwa kutumia Kepler na mbinu nyingine, wanasayansi wamegundua sayari 3,600 za nje ya dunia na sayari 62 zinazoweza kukaliwa. Baada ya uzinduzi wa James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) na NASA mnamo 2018, nafasi za kusoma sayari na kugundua anga za kawaida zitaongezeka mara nyingi. JWST itachukua mahali pa darubini-upeo ya angani ya Hubble. Kepler Space Telescope (KST) ni unmanned space observatory iliyozinduliwa mwaka 2009 na Shirika la Kitaifa la Anga na Anga (NASA). Kazi yake ni kuamua ni sayari ngapi zinazofanana na Dunia zinazopatikana katika galaksi ya Milky Way. "Kama ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, ""Mfano wa nyota"" ni mfululizo wa nyota ambazo zinaishi katika eneo la Goldilocks, eneo la nyota za kawaida."