Quite a few people at NASA breathed a heavy sigh of relief this week after learning that space telescope Kepler is once again able to resume finding new planets outside our own solar system. The Keplar space telescope is a $600 million project that’s responsible for discovering 132 exoplanets and 2,700 objects that could potentially be planetary bodies.
It would appear that news of Kepler’s demise has been greatly exaggerated. The planet-hunting space telescope, which suffered a major malfunction last May, is back online — and it’s already managed to observe another planet. The planet, a hot-Jupiter called WASP-28b, was already known to scientists. But it’s solid evidence that Kepler, after some important adjustments, is ready to resume its responsibilities. Astronomers confirmed Kepler’s observations of WASP-28b last month. This is truly awesome news. The $600 million space telescope has been responsible for a remarkable number of discoveries — including 132 exoplanets and another 2,700 candidates.
