The Once and Future Kepler Mission: Hot on the Trail of Habitable Earth-size Planets

Kepler vaulted into the heavens on March 7, 2009, initiating NASA's search for Earth-size planets orbiting Sun-like stars in the habitable zone, where liquid water could exist on the planetary surface and support alien biology. In the 4 years since, a flood of photometric data on upwards of 190,000 stars of unprecedented precision and continuity has provoked a watershed of 132+ confirmed or validated planets, 2700+ planetary candidates and a resounding revolution in our understanding of the behavior of stars. Recent discoveries include Kepler-62 with 5 planets total of which 2 are in the habitable zone, and are 1.4 and 1.7 times the radius of the Earth. Dr. Jenkins will highlight key science results from Kepler, and will also discuss the daunting challenges that faced the technical and scientific team as they designed, built and are now operating this amazing observatory. He will also give a brief overview of TESS, NASA's next mission to detect Earth's closest cousins.

Speaker: Dr. Jon Jenkins, SETI