"When you are in the space station, and there is no gravity, how do the astronaunts sleep, without floating around in their beds? "
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Question
Are there any new tools being developed to be used to detect extrasolar planets?
The Kepler space mission, which is scheduled to launch late in 2008, is the most innovative and powerful new technique to search for exoplanets. By observing from space and staring continuously for 4 years at about 100,000 stars, Kepler will use the transit technique (the slight dimming of the star as a planet passes between it and the observer) to carry out a relatively unbiased survey of the configurations of other planetary systems. Thus it will tell us how common are earthlike planets, and the kind of systems in which they are found. If successful, Kepler will produce a huge increase in our understanding of other planetary systems. Meanwhile, this same transit technique is being tested today by the European Space Agency (ESA) mission called COROT, which is not, however, sensitive enough to detect planets as small as the Earth. You can find more on Kepler at (http://www.kepler.arc.nasa.gov/summary.html). David Morrison
NAI Senior Scientist
July 9, 2007
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