Catching Shadows: Kepler's Search for New Worlds

NASA's Kepler spacecraft, launched in March 2009, is a mission designed to survey a slice of the Milky Way Galaxy to identify planets orbiting other stars. Kepler has the advantage that it can find planets as small as Earth in or near the habitable zone of each star. Dr. Batalha introduces the quest for planets elsewhere, describes the techniques used by the Kepler team, and shares some of the mission discoveries to date.

Speaker: Dr. Natalie Batalha, NASA, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, San Jose State