These are all CANDIDATES. The Kepler team has said they expect that as many as 50% of the CANDIDATES are false alarms (eclipsing binaries, etc.)

Around 55m ESE. We'll better wait for a few additional moves to confirm this trend but I think (or wish) they'll move east whenever possible from now on.

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit skipped a planned communication session on March 30 and, as anticipated from recent power-supply projections, has probably entered a low-power hibernation mode.

The third safing event, no science lost as this was just before a successful download.

Random noise is present in all measurements and cannot be calibrated out. Therefore, strict requirements were placed on the design of Kepler’s spacecraft systems to limit random noise to a low level. Measurements taken in space confirm that Kepler meets its random noise requirements.

Systematic noise results from the imperfect nature of any measuring device. It represents the instrument’s “finger print” placed upon the measurement, and must be calibrated out of the data in post-processing on the ground. Because systematic noise depends on the specific characteristics of the instrument, the best calibration requires that the noise sources be characterized and modeled based on measurements made in space. The Kepler team has been developing the ground software to calibrate out the various systematic noise sources since launch, and this work will continue for a number of months. As each source of systematic noise is calibrated, fainter transit signals can be detected. Data collected from the spacecraft will be continually reprocessed as the ground software matures, revealing smaller and smaller planets. This is a normal process and has been part of the Kepler plan since before launch. Fortunately for Kepler, the worst sources of systematic noise affect only a small portion of the field of view, so the majority of the field of view will be calibrated earlier, enabling small planets to be detected sooner.

Approximately in December 2010, scientists expect to announce any discoveries they have made in the
first year. This will be the first possible announcement of Earth-size planets in the habitable zones of
M-type stars, which are stars smaller and cooler than the sun.

Discovery of Earth-size planets in Earth-like orbits requires nearly the full lifetime of the 3.5 year mission,
although in some cases three transits are seen in just a little more than two years. Other results that
require the full 3.5 years of data are: Planets as small as Mars in short period orbits, which utilizes the
addition of dozens or more transits to be detectable; and the detection of giant-inner planets that do not
transit the star, but do periodically modulate the apparent brightness due to reflected light from the planet.

Approximately in December 2011, scientists are expected to announce any discoveries made during the
first two years of the mission. The announcement will be made at NASA Headquarters and later at the
January 2012 American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting held in Seattle, Wa., as well as at NASA’s
Ames Research Center. This will be the first possible announcement of Earth-size planets in the habitable
zones of K-type stars.

Around December 2012, scientists are expected to announce any discoveries made during the first
three years of the mission. The announcement will be made at NASA Headquarters and later at the AAS
meeting held in Austin, Texas, as well as at NASA’s Ames Research Center. This is the first possible
announcement of Earth-size planets in the habitable zones of solar-like or G stars.

Three of these channels are plagued by electronic noise that makes stars in their field of view appear to flicker – "like it's changing its brightness at a rapid rate", says Kepler chief scientist William Borucki of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

The tiny brightness dips from a transiting Earth-size planet could be lost amid these fluctuations. But since the problem affects only a few of the 84 channels, it is not expected to hide all Earth-size planets, Borucki says.

"People have found a pimple here and they are trying to make it into a mountain," he told New Scientist. "A lot of the planets will show up regardless."

...

The team is developing software to automatically remove the noise from data after it is sent down to Earth, but rigorous testing means it will not be ready until 2011.

I'm quite curious to learn more about the light curves of some of the other variable stars, not necessarily curves which look like they may be planet transits. It sounds like they may have unique and exciting data. I wonder where and when these other data will be reported. Wouldn't it be something if it turns out that Kepler's Earth sized planets are a minor part of what its data yields?