Kepler/K2 Stories

More Planets than Stars: Kepler’s Legacy

4 min read

The Kepler mission enabled the discovery of thousands of exoplanets, revealing a deep truth about our place in the cosmos: there are more planets than stars in the Milky Way galaxy. The road to this fundamental change in our understanding…

Article2 months ago

NASA Data Reveals Possible Reason Some Exoplanets Are Shrinking

6 min read

A new study could explain the ‘missing’ exoplanets between super-Earths and sub-Neptunes. Some exoplanets seem to be losing their atmospheres and shrinking. In a new study using NASA’s retired Kepler Space Telescope, astronomers find evidence of a possible cause: The…

Article6 months ago
A graphical illustration shows a stylized image of the Kepler Space Telescope floating near three colorful exoplanets. They are gas giant planets of red, blue and brown, with swirling clouds and artistic bands. The image of space in the background is similarly stylized.

Astronomers Discover Planets in NASA Kepler’s Final Days of Observations

5 min read

A team of astrophysicists and citizen scientists have identified what may be some of the last planets NASA’s retired Kepler space telescope observed during its nearly decade-long mission.

Article11 months ago