Space & Astronomy

NASA announces discovery of 1,284 exoplanets

By T.K. Randall
May 10, 2016

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) Discovered by the Kepler Space Telescope, this vast treasure trove of planets is thought to include at least 550 rocky terrestrial worlds as well as 9 that have been identified as potentially habitable.

The telescope also found a further 1,327 'candidates' that are also quite likely to be planets.

Kepler announces a planet boon- 1,284 new planets! This brings the Kepler count to 2,325.https://t.co/T3BValrvdR pic.twitter.com/zQ7pA7DZHW

— NASA Kepler and K2 (@NASAKepler) May 10, 2016

"Before the Kepler space telescope launched, we did not know whether exoplanets were rare or common in the galaxy," said NASA's Astrophysics Division director Paul Hertz.

"Thanks to Kepler and the research community, we now know there could be more planets than stars. This knowledge informs the future missions that are needed to take us ever-closer to finding out whether we are alone in the universe."

Source: Independent

Tags: Kepler, NASA