NASA is set toannouncethe major discovery of a new planet by the Kepler Space Telescope tomorrow ( July 23 ) at high noon EDT ( 5 p.m. BST ) , and you’re able to watch it live below .
Today weknowthat Earth is just one of century of zillion of planet in our galaxy , itself just one of one C of billions of galaxies .
But while this knowledge might seem commonplace , it is rather incredible to remember that the first planet outside the Solar System was not discovered until 1992 – and then only byaccident .
Since then , thanks to an array of telescopes we have a greater understanding than ever of some of the exoplanets found elsewhere in the universe – from fascinatinghot Jupitersthat orb their adept in day toEarth - sized planetsin habitable zones of red-faced gnome – but we are yet to find a true Earth 2.0 , namely an Earth - sized worldly concern around a Sun - like star .
" Today , and thousands of discoveries afterwards , astronomer are on the leaflet of finding something people have dream about for M of years – another dry land , " NASA teased in astatement . The springy stream below will expose the discovery tomorrow at a newsworthiness league at noon EDT ( 5 p.m. BST ) .
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No major planet - hunting watch has been more successful than NASA’sKepler Space Telescope , which has been responsible for feel the vast , vast legal age of all the major planet we jazz of today – with its current run standing at more than one thousand confirmed planets and several thousand more candidates .
plunge in 2009 , Kepler ’s basal delegation last for more than three year , during which fourth dimension it supervise more than 145,000 principal sequence star with a photometer . By detecting dips in luminosity from revolve planets pass in front of the star – known as thetransit method – the scope has been able to line up a huge routine of worlds .
Afterlosingthe use of two of its four chemical reaction wheels in 2013 – which it use to angle itself towards distant stars – NASA came up with a new method acting to continue operations by using the photons from sun as a makeshift third reaction cycle . Using this method acting , Kepler is now in the midst of its second mission , dubbedK2 “ Second Light . ”
So , tune in tomorrow for news of its late find as we continue to reveal our post in this progressively planet - ample population .
