An unmanned Nasa mission has been set to search the sky for Earth- like planets with the potential to host life and has been launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida.
The Kepler telescope will orbit the Sun to watch a patch of space thought to contain about 100,000 stars like ours.
It will look for the slight dimming of light from these “suns” as planets pass between them and the spacecraft.
controllers took their first opportunity to launch the probe, at 0349GMT (2249EST) on 7 March.
Kepler blasted off atop a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Equipped with the largest camera ever launched into space, it is the first mission designed to find rocky worlds orbiting Sun like stars. Planets located in a warm zone – known as the habitable zone – might host liquid water on their surfaces.
And where there is liquid water, scientists argue, there is at least the potential for life.
Kepler will detect the periodic dimming of stars caused by transiting planets.
“If Kepler were to look down at a small town on Earth at night from space, it would be able to detect the dimming of a porch light as somebody passed in front,” James Fanson said , Kepler project’s manager at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.
Kepler will stare at the same star field for the entire mission monitoring the brightnesses of more than 100,000 stars for the mission’s 3 and a half year lifetime.
The spacecraft will be launched into an orbit where it will drift behind Earth as it circles the Sun. This will ensure our planet does not block the stars which need to be observed continuously by the observatory.
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