by De58te » Wed Jul 10, 2019 11:57 am
Ann wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 11:00 am
wolfie138 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 10:47 am
Ann wrote: ↑Wed Jul 10, 2019 8:37 am
Isn't that the area where the Kepler space telescope was busy detecting planets for a couple of years?
Ann
yeah, but why s many? just because they spent so much time looking? that could suggest the same density everywhere, if they look long enough.
I don't know why Kepler spent so much time looking at more or less the same spot, but I'm sure there was a good reason for it.
You are quite right that astronomers expect that there will be just as many planets everywhere else, too.
Ann
Kepler's orientation in its trailing orbit of Earth was kept oriented towards the constellations of Cygnus, Lyra and Draco, so as to keep sunlight out of the telescope and to keep the solar arrays pointed to the Sun for maximum efficiency. However, on July 14, 2012, one of the spacecraft's four reaction wheels used for pointing the spacecraft stopped turning, and completing the mission would only be possible if all other reaction wheels remained reliable.[17] Then, on May 11, 2013, a second reaction wheel failed, disabling the collection of science data[18] and threatening the continuation of the mission.[19] On August 15, 2013, NASA announced that they had given up trying to fix the two failed reaction wheels. This meant the current mission needed to be modified, but it did not necessarily mean the end of planet hunting.-Wikipedia. This complication apparently further narrowed the range Kepler had to work with. However in 2013 a new proposal was applied, 'K2, Second Light' which allowed Kepler to gather information from a drifting star instead of Kepler having to fix on a star. Thus its field of view was actually expanded but its scientific discoveries still declined because of its limited manoeuvrability.
[quote=Ann post_id=293603 time=1562756455 user_id=129702]
[quote=wolfie138 post_id=293600 time=1562755675 user_id=126654]
[quote=Ann post_id=293596 time=1562747870 user_id=129702]
Isn't that the area where the Kepler space telescope was busy detecting planets for a couple of years?
Ann
[/quote]
yeah, but why s many? just because they spent so much time looking? that could suggest the same density everywhere, if they look long enough.
[/quote]
I don't know why Kepler spent so much time looking at more or less the same spot, but I'm sure there was a good reason for it.
You are quite right that astronomers expect that there will be just as many planets everywhere else, too.
Ann
[/quote]
Kepler's orientation in its trailing orbit of Earth was kept oriented towards the constellations of Cygnus, Lyra and Draco, so as to keep sunlight out of the telescope and to keep the solar arrays pointed to the Sun for maximum efficiency. However, on July 14, 2012, one of the spacecraft's four reaction wheels used for pointing the spacecraft stopped turning, and completing the mission would only be possible if all other reaction wheels remained reliable.[17] Then, on May 11, 2013, a second reaction wheel failed, disabling the collection of science data[18] and threatening the continuation of the mission.[19] On August 15, 2013, NASA announced that they had given up trying to fix the two failed reaction wheels. This meant the current mission needed to be modified, but it did not necessarily mean the end of planet hunting.-Wikipedia. This complication apparently further narrowed the range Kepler had to work with. However in 2013 a new proposal was applied, 'K2, Second Light' which allowed Kepler to gather information from a drifting star instead of Kepler having to fix on a star. Thus its field of view was actually expanded but its scientific discoveries still declined because of its limited manoeuvrability.