Europe's New Exoplanet Hunter Satellite
Satellite Spots 1st Alien World
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| Source: ESA CHEOPS |
ESA's New Highly Advanced Satellite
Europe's new exoplanet-spotting space
telescope CHEOPS has been tested in space for the past
three months. It has successfully spotted
several exoplanets. These are planets
that orbit stars outside of our solar system.
They're known as alien planets,
By the end of April it will start scientific
observations of great importance to the process of
discovering life beyond the Earth.
CHEOPS
CHEOPS is on a different mission than NASA's
Kepler space telescope that searches for exoplanets.
The CHEOPS space telescope is targeting known
exoplanets to determine their sizes and density. Thanks
to its highly advanced instrumentation, the
accuracy of measurement that CHEOPS
delivers will be unprecedented.
Search for Alien Life on Alien Planets
The discoveries and findings from
CHEOPS are expected to be critical
to scientists in their efforts to
determine what the exoplanets are
composed of and whether they have
the capability of sustaining alien
life. On that basis, scientists will
prioritize the most promising planets
to explore for life.
Fascinating Resource on Space
Take a journey into the latest big
discoveries in space, in journalist
Edward Kane's just published
book "Space 2020's: What's Out There?"
I co-authored the book with Ed.
... ...
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