NASA to Announce Kepler Discovery at Media Briefing

Artist’s concept of Kepler in the distant solar system. Image credit: NASA

Artist’s concept of Kepler in the distant solar system. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Science Journal Has Embargoed Details Until 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT), Sept. 15

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA will host a news briefing at 11 a.m. PDT (2 p.m. EDT), Thursday, Sept. 15, to announce a new discovery by the Kepler mission. The briefing will be held at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. The event will be carried live on NASA Television and the agency’s website at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv. It will also be streamed live, with a chat available, at http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2 .

Kepler is the first NASA mission capable of finding Earth-size planets in or near the "habitable zone," the region in a planetary system where liquid water can exist on the surface of the orbiting planet. Although additional observations will be needed over time to achieve that milestone, Kepler is detecting planets and planet candidates with a wide range of sizes and orbital distances to help us better understand our place in the galaxy.

A representative from Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), a division of Lucasfilm Ltd., will join a panel of scientists to discuss the discovery. The briefing participants are:

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--Charlie Sobeck, Kepler deputy project manager, Ames Research Center
--Nick Gautier, Kepler project scientist, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
--Laurance Doyle, lead author, SETI Institute, Mountain View, Calif.
--John Knoll, visual effects supervisor, ILM, San Francisco.
--Greg Laughlin, professor for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, University of California, Santa Cruz, Calif.

Kepler is a NASA Discovery mission. NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., is the home organization of the science principal investigator and is responsible for the ground system development, mission operations and science data analysis. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., managed the Kepler mission development. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colo., was responsible for developing the Kepler flight system and supports mission operations. about the Kepler mission, visit http://www.nasa.gov/kepler.