Exploring Distant Worlds using NASA's Kepler Space Telescope

美国国家航空航天局的开普勒太空望远镜目前正在通过探测数千颗新的太阳系外行星和振荡恒星，彻底改变行星和恒星天体物理学。该项目将使用开普勒数据测量系外行星宿主恒星的振荡，探测红巨星周围的新行星，并提高我们对开普勒观测到的所有恒星的理解。研究结果有望首次精确测量类太阳恒星周围宜居带中地球大小的行星的半径，在气体巨行星的形成和组成理论方面取得突破性发现，并首次准确估计银河系中类地行星的频率。

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration space telescope Kepler is currently revolutionising planetary and stellar astrophysics through the detection of thousands of new extrasolar planets and oscillating stars. This project will use Kepler data to measure oscillations in exoplanet host stars, detect new planets around red-giant stars and improve our understanding of all stars observed by Kepler. The results are expected to yield the first precisely measured radius of an Earth-sized planet in the habitable zone around a Sun-like star, lead to breakthrough discoveries in the theory of the formation and composition of gas-giant planets and result in the first accurate estimate of the frequency of Earth-like planets in our galaxy.