Posted: Fri, Apr 17, 2009, 7:53 AM ET (1153 GMT)
NASA's Kepler spacecraft has returned its first images of a region of the sky that the spacecraft will study in its search for Earth-like extrasolar planets. The images, released by the space agency on Thursday, shows the 100-sqare-degree region of the sky that the spacecraft will monitor for the next several years, as well as several closeups within that region. Kepler, launched last month, is designed to look for extrasolar planets by monitoring 100,000 stars for minute, periodic decreases in brightness caused by transiting planets.

Related Links:

•  New Scientist article
•  SPACE.com article
•  AP article
•  Boulder (Colo.) Daily Camera article
•  NASA press release