Kepler Space Telescope

The Kepler Space Telescope was a NASA observatory that found exoplanets mainly by detecting periodic dips in starlight as planets crossed their stars.

Transit method: An exoplanet detection technique that measures a star’s repeated dimming as a planet passes in front of it. Kepler used this method to identify planets from recurring dips in stellar brightness.
Exoplanet: A planet that orbits a star other than the Sun. Finding and characterizing exoplanets was the telescope’s central scientific purpose.
William J. Borucki: An American planetary scientist who led the development of the Kepler mission’s transit-detection concept. Borucki championed the photometric approach that became the mission’s defining strategy.
Exoplanet discovery: The identification of planets orbiting stars beyond the Solar System. Kepler produced a large share of the confirmed exoplanet discoveries made during its mission.
Photometry: The measurement of the intensity of electromagnetic radiation, especially light from astronomical objects. Kepler’s planet search depended on measuring stellar brightness with exceptional precision.
Kepler-186f: An exoplanet discovered by Kepler, orbiting within the habitable zone of the red dwarf Kepler-186. Its discovery demonstrated that small, potentially temperate planets could be found around other stars.
NASA Discovery Program: A NASA program funding focused, relatively low-cost planetary science missions. Kepler was selected and developed as a Discovery-class mission.
Planetary system: A star or stellar remnant together with the planets and other objects gravitationally bound to it. Kepler’s observations revealed the diversity and frequency of systems beyond the Solar System.
Light curve: A graph of an astronomical object’s brightness over time. Repeated transit-shaped features in Kepler light curves revealed candidate planets.
Kepler-22b: An exoplanet discovered by Kepler that orbits within the habitable zone of a Sun-like star. It was an early Kepler discovery that focused attention on planets in habitable-zone orbits.

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