space

Nasa recently launched a planet-hunting spacecraft called Kepler to go throughout the galaxy searching for earth-like planets. This is the first time  a spacecraft capable f finding earth-like planets has been utilized. The mission is set to last 3 and a half years and will cost $600 million. The goal is to find planets orbiting stars in the habitable zone which for our earth is around 93 million miles away from the sun. In these zones water and life is possible. Kepler's primary scientist Bill Borucki  said "if we don't find any, it really means Earths are very rare, we might be the only extant of life and, in fact, that will be the end of 'Star Trek.' " Kepler will stare nonstop at 100,000 stars near the Cygnus and Lyra constellations which is between 600 and 3,000 light years away. The telescope is searching for orbiting planets. Astronomers have already found nearly 300 planets orbiting stars but they are mostly giant gas planets like Jupiter which are inhospitable. They are looking for smaller rocky planted like earth.  The telescope on board the Kepler is so powerful the scientists estimate that from space they could view someone turning off a porch light at night. The kepler although will not search for life that is for later space crafts. On Kepler.nasa.gov you can watch live video feeds of the telescope and read about the latest finds and updates about the mission. I am very excited about the Kepler mission because i have always been very curious about space and our universe. I would really like to know if there is life beyond ours, If there are humans out on a faraway planet. This could result in one of the most important finds in history is the telescope finds what it is looking for. 

http://kepler.nasa.gov

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