Kepler Mission Destined to Discover New Earth-like planets.

After the success of the TrES program, Edward Dunham, Lowell Observatory instrument scientist and a founding co-investigator of the TrES network, is pleased to be part of an endeavor that will build on the success of the Transatlantic Exoplanet Survey, which is a team that finds and categorizes planets on other solar systems.
Kepler Telescope was successfully launched on March, 6, 2009, at 10:49 pm EST. After blasting off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II, and entering space, The Kepler observation platform is the newest telescope surveying the expansive sky. The telescope is able to find Earth-like exoplanets. Although scientists have had lots of success finding huge Jupiter-like planets, their Earth-based telescopes aren’t capable of finding smaller planets. All this will change once the Kepler mission begins streaming in data. Like the TrES network, the Kepler probe will use a radio-velocity telescope to examine far away stars. Unlike TrES, the Kepler telescope will be satellite-based, which will allow it to see smaller fluctuations in light as small earth-like planets cross the star’s horizon. Dunham is a co-investigator on the Kepler mission, a NASA Discovery mission designed to detect Earth-size planets orbiting sun like stars. He has been working on the Kepler Mission in one way or another for the last 15 years. His responsibilities for Kepler center on focal plane development, optics and the system test program. The planet TrES-2 was co-discovered by Dunham and is noteworthy for being the first transiting planet in an area of the sky where the Kepler will focus on. Kepler will survey four classes of stars – F stars that are bigger and brighter than Earth's sun, G stars that are similar to our sun in brightness and size, and K and M stars, which are smaller and less bright than our sun. As a planet crosses the path of the Kepler telescope and its host star, the light of the host star is dimineshed.

Through the observation of the fluctuation in light of the stars it is surveying, The Kepler telescope is likely to yield the discovery of new planets the size of the Earth.“All of the exoplanets detected so far are gas giants, approximately 150 as of 2005,” said Dunham. Once the satellite begins sending data, scientists will receive stellar information deep within the Hercules consolation. From its view point, the telescope monitors 100,000 main-sequence stars for planets. The mission’s lifetime of 3.5 years could be extended to at least six years depending on funding and other variables.

Transits by terrestrial planets produce a small change in a star's brightness of about 100 parts per million (ppm), lasting for 2 to 16 hours. This change must be absolutely periodic if it is caused by a planet. “Kepler will find lots of objects like TrES-2 in its quest to discover Earth-size planets orbiting other stars. However, I imagine that TrES-2 will be one of Kepler's first targets, and will be an old friend by the end of the mission,” Dunham said. He, along with fellow astronomer Georgi Mandushev, has found four planets using the transient method. Their findings will be used to calibrate the telescope. Knowing the mass and radius of TrES--4 and characteristics of its host star allows scientists to fine-tune the new space based telescope. NASA officials released a YouTube update for the Kepler mission. The video gives its audience an idea about the revolutionary perspective this new satellite will give humanity. Mandushev, being a life long astronomy enthusiast and astronomer at Lowell observatory, believes

the Kepler Telescope will provide data that will change humanity’s perception of its place in the cosmos.

The Expansion of the Cosmos

The night sky’s plethora of heavenly bodies has become a little more discernible as two astronomers from the US National Optical Astronomy Observatory discover a binary black hole. The two scientists, Todd Boroson and Tod Lauer, both from Tucson Arizona, published their findings in the journal Nature.
Their discovery of a double black hole system is in line with the theory of the growth of galaxies, which postulates that each galaxy houses a black hole at its centre. It is believed that as these two black holes begin to merge they will form a bigger galaxy.
Because matter entering a black hole gives off electromagnetic waves that can be recorded here on earth, astronomers use the Doppler Effect to determine which direction the black holes are moving, and how fast they’re moving. Formerly revealed by the Austrian physicist and mathematician, Christian Doppler, the Doppler Effect is best demonstrated by listening to an ambulance’s siren becoming louder as the vehicle gets closer and quitter as it passes. The sound waves emitted from the ambulance, the light waves, and electromagnetic waves emitted from the black hole, communicate how fast the bodies producing the waves are moving. When the waves move toward the listener they are squeezed together producing a blue shift, and when they are in retreat they fan out and produce a red shift, which are both detected by sophisticated instruments. These shifts allow scientists to determine how fast the bodies are moving.
It is estimated that less than a third of a light-year separates these two behemoth heavenly bodies. The distance separating these two quasars is believed to be closer than the binary system found by the Chandra X-ray Observatory in 2003. Because of the distance they are from one another, and the massiveness of each black hole, which is estimated to be between 20 million to 1 billion times bigger than earth’s sun, it takes them one hundred years to circle one another.
Unlike the 2003 discovery of a binary black hole system, this discovery is more revolutionary because the evidence is much stronger and the pairing is tighter. The first discovery of a binary black hole, at a distance of about 400 million light-years, was NGC 6240. Though the discovery of the two black holes, which are about 3,000 light-years apart, was breath taking in 2003, the recent discovery is hoped to produce even better data. The data compiled is expected to help astronomers postulate how the cosmos are expanding.

New Horizon Heads for new Frontiers

As of March 23, 2009, the New Horizon space craft has traveled one-third the distance it needs to go in order to explore Pluto. The craft left earth’s atmosphere 38 months ago and has traveled almost two billion kilometers of flight. The craft left Jupiter’s orbit last year. It was there that astronomers from Lowell Observatory tested the vital instruments needed to explore Pluto.
The New Horizon began its first set of test Feb. 28, 2007, as it came within 1.4 million miles of Jupiter. As the craft was utilizing Jupiter’s gravity, in order to trim three years off its trip, it began taking pictures and conducting other observations. Using a range of viewing angles the craft captured the clearest images ever taken of Jupiter’s ring system. Scientists, having pre programmed the craft to do just that, were not surprised when data began streaming in later that day. However, once the clarity and vivacity of the pictures were realized, there was enough surprise to go around for everyone.
Astronomer Will Grundy, from Lowell Observatory, was one of the amazed scientists to view the new pictures of the gas giant. “Part of the reason for doing so many complicated observations at Jupiter was to flush out bugs,” Grundy said. “Lots of interesting science is coming from that encounter, which also provided a valuable rehearsal for the real objective: the Pluto system.”
On Jan. 16, 2006, the New Horizon space craft was launched into space from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. As part of NASA’s New Frontiers program, The New Horizon project has scientists from all around the United States contributing their expertise. The craft is expected to reach Pluto April 12, 2015. Its mission is to record and send data to scientists who are interested in how and when the dwarf planet formed.
The craft has already captured some of the most spectacular pictures ever photographed. The New Horizon can view objects as small as 0.6 miles in diameter, which enabled the craft to produce close-up scans of the Little Red Spot, Jupiter's second-largest storm. The spot is about 70 percent of Earth’s diameter. Through the images, scientists are continuing the search for clues about how these massive storm systems form.
Observations made of Jupiter were scientifically significant to the exploration of Pluto because it gave scientists a chance to test vital systems. “Things like electronics, thrusters, radio transmitters, computers, and star tracker cameras all come in pairs, so if one fails or behaves unexpectedly, we can switch to a backup one,” Grundy said. “It's because a system this complex will inevitably have unexpected behaviors.” As with most technically advanced systems bugs are always common. Grundy believes knowing about the glitches now gives them eight years to fix them or learn to work around them before the Pluto encounter. Although Grundy said, “nothing so far has been a show-stopper.”
After being slung around Jupiter and gaining speed through the planets gravity, the craft is now on trajectory with Pluto. “We've explored the rocky planets and we've explored the gas giants, but we have never yet visited any of the small icy objects like Pluto, Eris, Quaoar, Sedna,” said Grundy. “Once we get down to work and use the data from the New Horizon we’ll understand how the Pluto system really works, and what it can tell us of the early history of the solar system.” Grundy began working for Lowell Observatory in 1997. Besides working on the New Horizon mission he is also on the science definition team for a possible future comet surface sample return mission, and is involved in a large number of different observing projects using Hubble Space Telescope, Spitzer Space Telescope, and a variety of ground-based telescopes. Grundy said he also does laboratory studies of cryogenic outer solar system materials, which are materials that have been exposed to temperatures below –238 F. Grundy has extensive knowledge about the Pluto system, the Kuiper belt, and remote-sensing techniques for outer solar system surfaces, which are all needed as the New Horizon rendezvous with Pluto. “Everything we do is remote-sensing,” Grundy said. Through remote-sensing scientists are conducting research via ultraviolet, visible, infrared and radio wave observations from a distance. The interest in studying Pluto predates the celestial body’s down grade from the ninth planet to a dwarf planet, but the funds and political will needed to make it a reality were never in strong demand. “The first ideas for a Pluto mission were floated around 1989,” Grundy said. “Following that, there were many different incarnations and cancellations.” The New Horizons mission is funded through 2017, which is long enough for scientists to fly through the Pluto system, record and return the data, and analyze it. Unlike most spacecrafts that eventually return to earth, the New Horizon is on a one-way trip to the outer most regions of the solar system. Grundy is confident that the craft will perform exceptionally well once it arrives at Pluto.
This New Horizon mission is the first in a series of New Frontier projects, which is NASA's new program for medium sized missions. Grundy said, “NASA hopes to launch New Frontier missions at a rate of two or three a decade.” One such mission that is in the works is a launching of a probe to Jupiter in August 2011. Interested astronomy enthusiasts are able to track the New Horizon craft and research its capabilities at http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/.

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