NASA is actively seeking life on exoplanets

NASA is actively seeking life on exoplanets

The artistic vision of the planet HD 219134b is the closest confirmed rocky exoplanet found outside the solar system. It is 1.6 times the size of Earth, and its orbital path lasts 3 days.

If you look closely at your earthly neighbors, you can safely say that we live on the most habitable planet in the entire solar system (do not be offended, Mars). And although this situation seems unique, many scientists believe that the Earth is not the only planet in the Universe capable of supporting life.

There are other worlds (exoplanets), protruding rocky balls and revolving around native stars in alien systems. If they are located in the habitat zone (the temperature is suitable for the presence of liquid water on the surface), then all the conditions for the origin and development of life are added.

In the search for the alien worlds of NASA, it is important to note the role of the Kepler spacecraft. It was launched in 2009 to look for analogues of the Earth. He managed to find more than 2,600 confirmed exoplanets, as well as 2,700 candidates awaiting confirmation. Kepler leads the hunt for worlds, observing stars in different systems and fixing dips in brightness that occur when a planet orbits around a star. The information is then used to calculate the size of the planet and its orbit. As a result, you can understand whether there is a possibility for life. With the high success of the search for Earth-like planets with life, Kepler would soon risk retiring. The spacecraft was in sleep mode and went out of it to transmit another piece of data to Earth. Such maneuvers are now necessary, as it actively burns the last remnants of fuel.

But even after losing Kepler, the search for foreign worlds will not end. In July, Kepler went into hibernation again, but at NASA they began to test the TESS satellite, which should become the receiver and continuation of the mission to search for exoplanets.

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