Author: Lisa Grossman / Source: Science News
A decade after being found, the first exoplanet candidate spotted by the Kepler space telescope has been confirmed as a real world.
The planet orbits a star initially dubbed KOI 4, for Kepler Object of Interest 4 (KOIs 1 through 3 were known before Kepler launched in March 2009). When the planet passed in front of the star, it blocked a bit of starlight from reaching Kepler in Earth’s orbit, alerting astronomers to the planet’s existence.
The Kepler team originally thought the star was about 1.1 times the width of the sun, which would make the planet about the size of Neptune. But then astronomers saw a second dip in starlight…
The post The first planet Kepler spotted has finally been confirmed 10 years later appeared first on FeedBox.