Skip to content
Technology & Innovation

More Kepler Data Now Available To The Public

For the amateur astronomer in your life: 16 terabytes’ worth of data from the orbiting telescope dating back to its 2009 launch. The science team wants help deciphering it all.
Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Article written by guest writer Kecia Lynn


What’s the Latest Development?

Newly added to the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes at Baltimore’s Space Telescope Science Institute is 12 more months of data from NASA’s Kepler mission, bringing the total amount to 16 terabytes. Formerly available only to the science team and other specific groups, the archive can now be accessed through the Planet Hunters site, which provides a tutorial on how to view the data. So far Kepler has discovered 77 confirmed planets and over 2,300 planet candidates, but these may be a mere fraction of what’s actually contained in the archive.

What’s the Big Idea?

The amount of data that’s come from Kepler since its 2009 launch is too great for astronomers to analyze quickly, so by making the information public, they are encouraging volunteer scientists and observers to help do the work for them. So far it’s working: Users have perused over 14 million observations, and only last week they discovered a planet in a quadruple-star system. In addition to Kepler data, MAST contains observations from 15 other NASA space astronomy projects, including the Hubble Space Telescope.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Related

Up Next
Dear Lover or Mistress: Let’s face it.  No one’s making chicken soup for your cheating soul. You’re not well-liked. If you’re a public figure and you get caught, pundits will […]