Anybody out there?
A mission to search for Earth-size planets beyond our solar system is set to launch in 2007. NASA's Kepler telescope will hunt for planets by measuring the small changes in a star's brightness as an orbiting planet transits across it.
Using this signature light dip, astronomers can work out the size and orbit of the planet. The chance of any one planet being aligned along the correct line of sight is tiny, so the telescope will monitor thousands of stars simultaneously.
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The Kepler telescope
Image: NASA |
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