Hi guys,
the Kepler space telescope is a NASA mission that looks for planets around other stars, by basically staring at the same patch of sky for years on end.
This video shows all of the 2300 good planetary candidates found by Kepler orbiting one star. Even though they are spread over 1700 stars, they are scaled by the size of this one imaginary star, so their orbits and sizes are accurate. Colour indicates temperature, ranging from red (hot) to blue (cold).
The work was done by Dr Alex Parker, another postdoctoral research fellow at my institution, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mmbZgLswAs&hd=1
the Kepler space telescope is a NASA mission that looks for planets around other stars, by basically staring at the same patch of sky for years on end.
This video shows all of the 2300 good planetary candidates found by Kepler orbiting one star. Even though they are spread over 1700 stars, they are scaled by the size of this one imaginary star, so their orbits and sizes are accurate. Colour indicates temperature, ranging from red (hot) to blue (cold).
The work was done by Dr Alex Parker, another postdoctoral research fellow at my institution, the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mmbZgLswAs&hd=1
Oh and the NIN soundtrack isn't too bad either!
