Nasa's Kepler Mission and The Most Interesting Habitable Worlds List

The Kepler Space Telescope launched into orbit around earth in 2009 with the goal of determining the frequency of planets existing in other star systems. This satellite was named after Johannes Kepler, who in in the early 1600's formulated our equations used for orbital mechanics of planetary and star systems. In 2018 the Kepler Telescope lost one of it's four main reaction wheels making it unable to point specifically at a field for extended periods of time, so it was repurposed to do short term observations as part of Kepler's Second Light.

Kepler was originally designed to study a fixed point of view centered on the Lyrae, Draco and Cygnus star constellations with the goal of searching for earthlike planets existing inside their star's habitable zones. Kepler's Photometer was able to monitor target stars for over three years. Data was then transmitted back to earth and analyzed for the tell-tale dimming signatures in a star's light curve that reveal planets exist there. Larger planets tended to be much easier to find because a  1 x Radius Earth planet is very much smaller than our own sun; likewise a planet the size of the earth makes only a very small dimming signature on a star like our sun, and roughly one million earths could fit inside the volume of the sun. The limitations of the transit detection method Kepler used also meant that we can only see planets who orbit's are edge on from our viewpoint in respect to Kepler's orbit around earth. During the original mission Kepler observed 530,506 stars and detected 2,662 planets orbiting other stars.

Kepler's fixed point of view in the sky focused in the Lyrae, Draco and Cygnus Star Constellations just above the plane of our own Milky Way Galaxy. Kepler's field covered 115 square degrees, just only about .25 of one percent of the sky. The very nearest star system in Kepler's Field of View was Gliese 1245 lying approximately 15 light years from our own sun. Exploring the unknowns of planetary compositions, characteristics, atmospheric structure, diversity and abundances were Kepler's main mission. Unlike 2MASS Surveys Kepler was limited to only visible light, whereas 2MASS surveys can peek into infrared light spectrums revealing objects that are much cooler than stars. Many of the targets in Kepler's field of view can also be found in 2MASS and other galactic surveys.

Kepler's Key Missions:

Determine how often earth size planets occur in the habitable zone of their stars.

Define the range of properties for rocky planets; orbital characteristics, size, mass and density.

Define the range of properties for short period gas giants; brightness, size, mass and density.

Identify additional stellar and planetary members in each star system with detectable planets.

Collect further estimations of how many planets may exist in multi planet and multi star systems.



 

Most Interesting Star Systems & Habitable List

Kepler 3-b

Kepler 10-c

Kepler 16-b

Kepler 22-b *Hab
(600 light years away)

Kepler 47-b
(two planets circling a double star)

Kepler 47-c
(two planets circling a double star)
Period=303 Days

Kepler 61-b *Hab

Kepler 62-e *Hab

Kepler 62-f *Hab

Kepler 69-c

Kepler 78-b

Kepler 155-c

Kepler 174-d *Hab

Kepler 186-f *Hab

Kepler 235-e

Kepler 283-c

Kepler 296-e *Hab

Kepler 296-f *Hab

Kepler 298-d *Hab

Kepler 438-b *Hab

Kepler 440-b *Hab

Kepler 441-b *Phab

Kepler 442-b *Hab
Period=112 Days 1.3 x R_Earth K5V Star!
(1200 light years away)

Kepler 443-b *Hab

Kepler 452-b **Hab**
Period=385 days 1.6 x R_Earth 1.1 x R_SOL G2Star!
60% bigger than earth. 5% farther from sun. Sun 10% bigger.
(1400 light years away)

Kepler 539-c *PHab

Kepler 560-b

Kepler 705-b *Hab

Kepler 1090-b *Hab

Kepler 1229-b *Hab

Kepler 1410-b *Hab

Kepler 1455-b

Kepler 1522-b *Hab

Kepler 1540-b *Hab

Kepler 1544-b *Hab

Kepler 1593-b

Kepler 1606-b *Hab

Kepler 1630-b *Phab

Kepler 1638-b *Hab

Corot 7-b

Epsilon Eridani -b

Gliese 163-c *Hab

Gliese 581-d
(20 light years away)

Gliese 581-g


Gliese 667-bc *Hab -dg*Phab
(23 light years away, triple red dwarf star system C)
c* Period=28 Days Kelvins=277

Gliese 832-c *Hab
(16 light years away)
Period=35 Days 1.5 x R_Earth Kelvins=253

Gliese 85512-b

Gliese 876-d

GJ 163

GJ 180

GJ 504-b

GJ 1214-b

GJ 3293

GJ 3323

PSRJ1719-1438-b

TAU CETI -c

TRAPPIST 1

TRES-4b

TOI 700 d**
(TESS's first announced earthlike habitable zone candidate)
HD 40307-g

HD 189733-b

HD 209458-b

HD 219134-e *Phab

HD 283869

HOA-2007-BLG-192LB

Kapteyn's Star

OOGLE-2005-BLG-390LB

PEGASI 51-b

Proxima Centauri -b *Hab

SWEEPS 10

TRES 2-b

WASP 18-b

WOLF 503-b
fulton gap*

WOLF 1061-c *Hab

WOLF 1061-d *Phab

K2 3-d *Hab
(3rd planet in red dwarf system, 137 light years away)
Period=44 Days Kelvins=282 or 48 F

K2 9-b *Hab

K2 18-b *Hab

K2 72-e *Hab




If you would like to start searching the skies try downloading Google Earth Pro for Desktop. Once loaded set the view option middle of the top navigation to sky. This will bring you into the Keyhole data sky set. Learn how to navigate using J2000 coordinates and enjoy!




Previous & Future Exo Planet Searches:

PLATO 2026

CHEOPS 2019

TESS 2018

GAIA 2013

COROT 2012

NGTS 2015

APF 2013

HARPS 2003

SUPERWASP 2002

PLANET QUEST 2002

HAT 2001