NASA to Reveal Big News From Planet-Hunting Spacecraft Thursday
NASA will hold a media teleconference Thursday, Aug. 26, at 1 p.m. EDT to discuss the Kepler spacecraft's latest discovery about an intriguing planetary system.Kepler, a space observatory, looks for the data signatures of planets by measuring tiny decreases in the brightness of stars when planets cross in front of, or transit, them. In June, mission scientists announced the mission has identified more than 700 planet candidates, including five candidate systems that appear to have more than one transiting planet.Participating telecon panelists are:-- Jon Morse, director, Science Mission Directorate Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington-- William Borucki, Kepler Mission science principal investigator, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.-- Matthew Holman, associate director, Theoretical Astrophysics Division, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, Mass.-- Alycia Weinberger, astronomer, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington