spacetoday.net: Kepler finds two exoplanets around same star

Posted: Fri, Aug 27, 2010, 9:17 AM ET (1317 GMT)
Kepler spacecraft illustration (NASA/Ames)

Scientists announced Thursday the discovery of at least two extrasolar planets transiting the same star as seen by NASA's Kepler spacecraft. The planets were detected transiting a star designated Kepler-9 over 2,000 light-years from the Earth. Two planets have masses somewhat smaller that Saturn with orbital periods of 19 and 38 days. The Kepler observations also show evidence of a third planet as small as 1.5 times the radius of the Earth with a period of just 1.6 days, but additional observations are needed to confirm its presence, scientists said. The discoveries are among the first made from data collected by Kepler, which observes over 150,000 stars looking for minute variations in brightness caused by planets transiting in front of the stars. The announcement is the second major exoplanet discovery made this week, after European astronomers reported finding at least five exoplanets orbiting one star.