| We are entering a golden era for "stellar physics" – a term coined to describe research about the formation, evolution, interior and the atmospheres of stars. Thanks to a partnership forged among stellar astrophysics, scientists and NASA’s Kepler Mission, a goldmine of data is now available to support the world's efforts to detect planets in the habitable zone around other stars.
An artist's rendering that compares the approximate size and color of the stars in the triple-eclipsing system HD 181068. Image credit: NASA/KASC
The Kepler photometric data is a measurement of light’s “brightness,” and provides an unprecedented opportunity for the emerging field of asteroseismology, the study of the internal structure of stars by observing minuscule pulsations in the star brightness. Asteroseismic research is giving insights into the fundamental properties of stars, including their mass, size, age and internal structure. Kepler enables studies of a large number of stars representing a broad range of types. This asteroseismic research will substantially improve our understanding of stellar evolution. It also will help determine the properties of stars that have planetary systems studied in the Kepler exoplanet program. |
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| Last Updated on Tuesday, 12 April 2011 19:34 | |
Exoplanets News
April 12, 2011
Kepler Reaching into the Stars
We are entering a golden era for "stellar physics" – a term coined to describe research about the formation, evolution, interior and the atmospheres of stars.… Read More
February 03, 2011
NASA Finds Earth-size Planet Candidates in the Habitable Zone
Is our Milky Way galaxy home to other planets the size of Earth? Are Earth-sized planets common or rare? NASA scientists seeking answers to those questions… Read More
February 02, 2011
Kepler Telescope Discovers Extraordinary New Planetary System
Scientists using NASA's Kepler, a space telescope, recently discovered six planets made of a mix of rock and gases orbiting a single sun-like star, known as… Read More
December 08, 2010
NASA's Spitzer Reveals First Carbon-Rich Planet
PASADENA, Calif. -- Astronomers have discovered that a huge, searing-hot planet orbiting another star is loaded with an unusual amount of carbon. The planet, a… Read More
December 01, 2010
Probing the Atmospheres of Super-Earths
PASADENA, Calif. -- A team of astronomers, including two NASA Sagan Fellows, has made the first characterizations of a super-Earth's atmosphere, by using a… Read More
December 01, 2010
First Super-Earth Atmosphere Analysed
The atmosphere around a super-Earth exoplanet has been analysed for the first time by an international team of astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope.… Read More
November 25, 2010
Astronomers Find Weird, Warm Spot on an Exoplanet
PASADENA, Calif. -- Observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveal a distant planet with a warm spot in the wrong place. The gas-giant planet, named… Read More
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