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Kepler launch imminent
Right Ascension
English - March 07, 2009 00:07Natural Sciences Science astronomy astrophysics stars telescopes planets space universe Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Previous Episode: Cosmology - an introduction
Next Episode: launch
Only a few hours to go now before the launch of one of the most exciting space missions yet. The Kepler telescope will gradually make its way to an earth-trailing orbit which balances out the gravitational pull and minimises the torque on the spacecraft allowing it to be stable and afix its gaze on a patch of sky and stare and stare and stare! Looking at the light from stars to detect the clues that reveal planets. It will be able to reach down to Earth size detection, something that has not been achievable to date. Any such detection of a planet like this in the 'goldilocks' zone around another star will be a great achievement, so fingers crossed for a successful launch.
For a movie describing the mission, visit here.