Kepler and the search for earth-like planets "must watch"

**Weedasaurus** · 05-31-2012, 05:55 PM

Insightful behind the scenes look at the Kepler satelite, the technology behind this massive project, its mission, and the findings since its launch from inside NASA.

Todd Klaus explains Kepler in amazing detail and the search for Earth-sized planets at NASA Ames during a Yelp Field Trip on the morning of March 16th, 2012.

**Doer** · 06-01-2012, 07:50 AM

Since I was a kid I thought I could see patterns in the white noise on a TV set. If you like that kind of thing, you too can join in the search. Find some patterns, discover...

Kepler is listening to exra-solar planets in it's field of view. SETIlive.org

**Kronika** · 06-01-2012, 07:55 AM

Very cool video. Thanks for sharing.

**Weedasaurus** · 06-01-2012, 01:16 PM

yea, theres so much data pouring in, the only way the project will get extended to 8 years is if they can expand on the capacity of the server database they have.

the Pleiades supercomputer, which ranks 7th on the

TOP500 list

of the world's most powerful supercomputers will probably be maxed out after 4 years of data. for 7-8 years it would need to be double.

http://www.nas.nasa.gov/hecc/resources/pleiades.html

even 8 years might not be enough, because they need atleast 3 passes over its star to be confirmed above the noise level. And the planet to be in the goldylox zone will pass in front of the star about once a earth year. Because the star is in equilibrium with it self. Energy/mass. the larger the star, the more gravity and energy. so the habital zone is farther out. regardless of star size. the habbital zone while always cause the planet in it to stay within a certain speed around the its host star. Baically the planet's years will be about the same as earths for liquid water to exist.

A earth like planet leaves a very small blip in the data and it almost within the noise level of the data.
that makes finding another earth one of the hardest ones to discover. by overlapping the blips in the data

not only that, there is so much data, that they cant possibly look at it all themselves in a timely manner. hence why he was taking about building algorithms that can do the work for them. untill then, they are rellying on volunteers to log on to that webiste you mentioned to help in the search. whatever you find, you can claim and possibly even name.

**Weedasaurus** · 06-01-2012, 09:47 PM

Geoff Marcy speaks about Keppler's discoveries and planet hunting in detail.

Start on 2:30 to skip to the beginning of his Lecture

skip to 8:42 for images of protoplanetary disks by hubble.

skip to 16:42 for a zoom in showcasing how many stars there are in kepler's field of view.

**mindphuk** · 06-05-2012, 01:17 AM

Originally Posted by Doer

Since I was a kid I thought I could see patterns in the white noise on a TV set. If you like that kind of thing, you too can join in the search. Find some patterns, discover...

Kepler is listening to exra-solar planets in it's field of view. SETIlive.org

Did you know a portion of that noise is actually coming from CMB? Your TV is seeing the early universe.

**Doer** · 06-05-2012, 07:40 AM

Originally Posted by mindphuk

Did you know a portion of that noise is actually coming from CMB? Your TV is seeing the early universe.

Actually, I did find that out, but much, much later. My parents thought I was weird, (now they know) I'd turn to a nice hashed up White channel and sit so that I had no field of view but that. Maybe 2 inches for my nose. It seemed to me to be deep and wide from that view. A sort of difference, 3Dish world of patterns. Then the Twilight Zone series started and I became afraid to sit so close.

**Weedasaurus** · 10-24-2012, 09:11 PM

the Geoff Marcey lecture explains it in great detail. A great speaker indeed. although they really need to change out the guy who does the intros, he is really horrible and sets the wrong tone.