Earth-Size Planet Kepler-186f, a Possibly Habitable Alien World (Gallery)

Kepler Spacecraft Sets Sights on Earth-like Planets

NASA/Tim Jacobs

Technicians working inside the Astrotech Space Operations facility near NASA's Kennedy Space Center look over the Kepler spacecraft soon after it arrived in Florida in preparation for launch. [Read the Full Story]

How the Planet-Finding Kepler Space Telescope Works

Karl Tate, SPACE.com contributor

The mission of the Kepler Space Telescope is to identify and characterize Earth-size planets in the habitable zones of nearby stars. [See how NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft works in this Space.com infographic] [Read the Full Story]

Kepler Field of View Star Chart

Software Bisque

This star chart illustrates the large patch of sky that NASA's Kepler mission will stare at for the duration of its three-and-a-half-year lifetime. The planet hunter's full field of view occupies 100 square degrees of our Milky Way galaxy, in the constellations Cygnus and Lyra. [Read the Full Story]

Kepler Space Telescope's Exoplanet Bonanza Explained (Infographic)

By Karl Tate, Infographics Artist

A powerful new technique for hunting alien planets yields a major new crop of new worlds. [See how Kepler made the planet discoveries in this Space.com infographic] [Read the Full Story]

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Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.