Kepler Mission |
Kepler Mission |
Mar 6 2009, 02:43 PM
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#61
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Member Group: Members Posts: 279 Joined: 19-August 07 Member No.: 3299 |
I am trying to find out about the future position of Kepler with respect to Earth. So far I have found the following info which does not satisfy me since it does not tell me about how far will be Kelper following up to Earth with a constant distance?
QUOTE Sixty-two minutes after launch, Kepler will have separated entirely from its rocket and will be in its final Earth-trailing orbit around the sun, an orbit similar to that of NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. |
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Mar 6 2009, 02:56 PM
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#62
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Rover Driver Group: Members Posts: 1015 Joined: 4-March 04 Member No.: 47 |
My impression was that it would move further and further away from Earth.
Google is very useful: http://redorbit.com/images/gallery/kepler/...3/41/index.html |
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Mar 6 2009, 03:40 PM
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#63
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Member Group: Members Posts: 237 Joined: 22-December 07 From: Alice Springs, N.T. Australia Member No.: 3989 |
future position of Kepler with respect to Earth. I went here http://kepler.nasa.gov/sci/design/orbit.html NASA press kit is interesting - orbit info on page 14 http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/314125main_Kepler_...2-19_smfile.pdf Kepler needs uninterrupted viewing to ensure most efficient use of observation time for planetary transits ("100,000 stars will be monitored continuously and simultaneously")!!!!! - therefore it is being put into a heliocentric orbit that trails behind the earth where earth/moon will not block the view. Also important - being further away from effects of things like earth/moon gravity, magnetoshpere etc means good stability and so better pics. Kepler's orbit will gradually fall further behind the Earth (worst case 0.5 AU after 4 years) but it will still be within communications range even after the end of the nominal mission - 3.5 years. Will probably get funding a bit longer after that. Hope this helps. |
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Mar 6 2009, 05:18 PM
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#64
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Member Group: Members Posts: 279 Joined: 19-August 07 Member No.: 3299 |
Thank you HughFromAlice. Its heliocentric orbit takes 371 days means that it will be keeping away from Earth in every year until it will meet again with Earth in very far future.
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Mar 6 2009, 11:10 PM
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#65
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Special Cookie Group: Members Posts: 2168 Joined: 6-April 05 From: Sintra | Portugal Member No.: 228 |
Man...Jon Jenkins back at BTC contagiated me with is emotions...if I was intending to stay calm I can't avoid to become all emotional...
"I’ve been waiting for this moment for 14 years. Tonight, NASA Discovery Program’s Kepler Mission will blast off at 10:48 pm from Canaveral Air Force Station taking the hopes and dreams of myself and so many other people who’ve worked so hard for so long to make this moment happen. It feels like I’m on a roller coaster on its way up to the first big hill, ka-ching, ka-ching. I can just start to see the big drop just beyond the crest of the tracks, and at launch there will be no turning back and we’ll be taken along for one of the most thrilling rides of our lives. Yesterday I watched “Magnificent Desolation” at the IMAX theater at KSC Visitor Complex. Unbidden tears formed in my eyes and flowed down my cheeks towards the end of the film. The enormity of the goals and aspirations achieved by the Apollo Program are overwhelming." -------------------- "Ride, boldly ride," The shade replied, "If you seek for Eldorado!"
Edgar Alan Poe |
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Mar 7 2009, 12:26 AM
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#66
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8785 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Great, moving words. I think all of us are pretty excited, but I can only imagine how the team members feel right now.
GO KEPLER!!!!! -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Guest_Zvezdichko_* |
Mar 7 2009, 06:07 AM
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#67
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Guests |
Looks like launch was successful.
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Mar 7 2009, 07:26 AM
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#68
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Member Group: Members Posts: 399 Joined: 28-August 07 From: San Francisco Member No.: 3511 |
Brilliant launch Kepler, (I'm Ecstatic)
Go Find 'Em Flea on the Headlight! -------------------- 'She drove until the wheels fell off...'
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Guest_PhilCo126_* |
Mar 7 2009, 07:59 AM
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#69
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Guests |
Indeed, together with CoRoT a very interesting mission to look forward to...
BIS Spaceflight May 2009 will have an article on Kepler |
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Mar 7 2009, 01:24 PM
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#70
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
Gorgeous launch pics by Ben Cooper...
http://www.launchphotography.com/Kepler.html Second one is an absolute beauty, Ben, well done! -------------------- |
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Mar 7 2009, 01:24 PM
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#71
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Newbie Group: Members Posts: 1 Joined: 6-March 09 Member No.: 4631 |
I don't know about Corot... It seems it didn't gone so well with planets detections There is a new article here: http://www.cnes.fr/web/CNES-fr/7492-jour-de-chance.php
I tried to translate it with google and I am pretty disapointed: To date, 7 CoRoT exoplanet discovered with certainty, including the smallest ever detected. This is an array of hunting already significant, but it is actually far less than what the researchers expected to discover. "We are half the planets as we had hoped" said Peter Barge. "We were so intrigued that we first thought there was a problem in detection methods. We distributed to all teams of the light curves with simulated transits to see if it was the methods of signal processing that were reviewed. But all the simulated planets had been identified ... " Another hypothesis, that of a noise, a disturbance signal which would be higher for low-light stars, often longer. "We will soon be able to better filter the residual instrumental noise on the low stars. We will see then if we find the planets expected. » " But if no new planet revealed the tip of the eclipse, it should be made to face the facts: the problem will not come from the instrument, but the stars themselves. "Maybe the planets are formed preferentially in our little galaxy" advance Pierre Barge with a smile. "Maybe the planets are formed preferentially in our little galaxy" advance Pierre Barge with a smile. The Sun and its retinue of planets and that a majority of the exoplanets detected are located in one arm of the galaxy, the Orion arm, a fairly dense area that could be more conducive to the formation of planets and other regions. But for now, this is still a hypothesis, "says the researcher. |
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Mar 7 2009, 01:57 PM
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#72
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Member Group: Members Posts: 340 Joined: 11-April 08 From: Sydney, Australia Member No.: 4093 |
Does anybody know where I can find the spice kernels for Kepler? Since it's orbiting the Sun, I would want to include it on my site.
since it does not tell me about how far will be Kelper following up to Earth with a constant distance? It will slowly fall behind Earth as it goes around the Sun ... Kepler orbits the Sun and not Earth. To keep it at a constant distance from Earth would involve at least two major trajectory correction maneuvers, so it is much more efficient to launch it into an orbit which is similar to that of Earth -------------------- |
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Mar 7 2009, 03:19 PM
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#73
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Member Group: Members Posts: 279 Joined: 19-August 07 Member No.: 3299 |
I am glad to know that the launch of Kepler was stunning and succesfull in spite of the fact that there were minor problems with some delay of relaying data to space center.
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Mar 7 2009, 07:45 PM
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#74
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Newbie Group: Members Posts: 17 Joined: 5-January 06 Member No.: 636 |
Congratulations on a succesful launch to everyone involved with the Kepler mission.
I have two questions which someone here may be able to enlighten me on: 1. Why wasn't an L2 orbit used (similar to the forthcoming Herschel and Planck missions)? Wouldn't an L2 orbit give a longer mission lifetime? 2. If/when an exo-planet is detected, is there any way to determine the eccentricity of it's orbit (either by Kepler or by ground based observations)? Best regards, Brian |
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Mar 7 2009, 08:28 PM
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#75
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1669 Joined: 5-March 05 From: Boulder, CO Member No.: 184 |
Yes, the radial velocity method can determine the eccentricity...
-------------------- Steve [ my home page and planetary maps page ]
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