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Tuesday, 07 April 2009 12:07 |
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An artist’s impression of the triple super-Earth system orbiting HD 40307. Image: ESO. | The astronomy-themed March 2009 issue of Physics World features an article by Alan Boss, entitled “Brave New Worlds,” that details the history of extrasolar planet search techniques and discoveries and what the recent launch of the Kepler Space Telescope—which is designed to determine specifically the percentage of solar-type stars that harbor Earth-like planets—will mean for the future of the field. Boss writes, “The Kepler mission will determine how frequently Earths occur in our galaxy... Given that there are billions of Sun-like stars in our galaxy alone, the number of Earth-like worlds must be similarly immense. Whatever the answer, by the time Kepler finishes its primary mission in 2013, we will know just how crowded the universe really is.” Click here for the full article.
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