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| Paper: |
A Planet for Goldilocks |
| Volume: |
483, Ensuring STEM Literacy: A National Conference on STEM Education and Public Outreach |
| Page: |
3 |
| Authors: |
Batalha, N. |
| Abstract: |
The search for life beyond Earth has inspired Solar System exploration and SETI surveys. Today, the search for life also leads to exoplanet discovery and characterization. Launched in March 2009, NASA's Kepler Mission has discovered thousands of exoplanets with diverse properties. Though each new world is interesting in its own right, Kepler aims to understand the population as a whole. Its primary objective is to determine the frequency of exoplanets of different sizes and orbital periods. Of special interest are the Earth-size planets in the “Goldilocks” (or habitable) Zone where the flux of incoming starlight is conducive to the existence of surface liquid water. Once Kepler establishes the prevalence of such planets in the Solar neighborhood, future missions can be designed to find not just a planet in the Goldilocks Zone but a planet for Goldilocks—a truly habitable environment for life as we know it. Kepler discoveries and progress will be described as well as the resources available to bring Kepler science to the public and into the classroom. The possibility of finding evidence of life beyond Earth is working its way into the public consciousness and has the potential to inspire generations. Scientific literacy is a natural consequence of awakening the spirit of exploration and discovery that led Goldilocks into the forest and leads humans into space. |
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