NASA’s Kepler Probe Finds New Rocky Planet

Artists Rendering of Kepler-10b

Previous searches for planets outside of our own solar system relied on detecting the tiny wobble of a star as a result of the gravitational pull of the planets orbiting it. In contrast, NASA’s Kepler space telescope uses a mosaic of 42 ultra-precise photometers to measure the tiny decrease in a star’s brightness that occurs when a planet crosses in front of it, according to NASA’s web site.

Using this telescope data, NASA has found 700 potential planets. Most interesting recently, is one named Kepler-10b, orbiting a star some 560 light years from earth. The star is one of about 150,000 stars in a tiny part of the sky between the constellations of Cygnus and Lyra which the telescope currently monitors. The star is about 3 times as old as the sun around which we orbit, but is similar in size and composition.

In July of 2009 NASA researchers detected the first signs of the potential planet. Calculating the size of a planet is done by measuring the small change in the brightness of the star as the planet passes in front. Using this method, Kepler-10b is estimated to be about 1.4 times the size of earth. The orbit however is much closer to its star. At an estimated 20 time closer than the orbit of Mercury, Kepler-10b’s surface is likely dry, scorched and rocky.