The NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope was launched to:a)Explore blac...
A system of seven sweltering planets was recently revealed by the continued study of data from NASA’s retired Kepler space telescope.
About Kepler Space Telescope:
- It was NASA’s first planet-hunting mission, assigned to search a portion of the Milky Way galaxy for Earth-sized planets orbiting stars outside our solar system.
- It was launched on March 6, 2009.
- The spacecraft was named after the famed German astronomer Johannes Kepler (1571-1630).
- Its scientific goals included determining the abundance of earth-sized planets and the distribution of sizes and shapes of their orbits, estimating the number of planets in multiple-star systems, and determining the properties of stars that have planetary systems.
- In December 2011, NASA announced that Kepler had found its first planet, Kepler-22b, in the habitable zone of a star.
- On October 30, 2018, after nine years in deep space collecting data, NASA announced that Kepler had run out of fuel. The spacecraft was retired in its current, safe orbit, away from Earth.
- Kepler left behind a legacy of more than 2,600 planet discoveries from outside our solar system, many of which could be promising places for life.
- Features:
- Kepler detected planets by observing transits, or tiny dips in the brightness of a star that occur when a planet crosses in front of the star.
- The spacecraft was basically a single instrument - a specially designed 3-foot (1-meter) diameter aperture telescope and image sensor array – with a spacecraft built around it.
- The diameter of the telescope’s mirror was 4 feet, 7 inches (1.4 meters), making it one of the largest mirrors beyond Earth’s orbit.
Hence option c is the correct answer.
The NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope was launched to:a)Explore blac...
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government. It was established in 1958 with the goal of advancing space exploration and scientific research related to space and aeronautics.
NASA conducts various missions and projects, including the development and launch of satellites, the study of Earth's atmosphere and climate change, the exploration of other planets and celestial bodies, and the advancement of space technology and engineering.
Some notable achievements of NASA include the Apollo moon landing missions, the launch and operation of the Hubble Space Telescope, the Mars rover missions, and the International Space Station (ISS) program.
NASA also collaborates with other countries and international partners on space exploration and research. The agency plays a crucial role in expanding our knowledge of the universe, advancing technology, and inspiring future generations of scientists and engineers.
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