Kepler team set to announce major discovery at 1:00 pm EDT 1284 new planets!

[Spaceception]

I'm extremely surprised no one else posted on this.

http://www.nasa.gov/news/media/newsaudio/index.html

If anyone has a better link, please post it

My guess is that either NASA found another example of KIC 8462852, or found 1 or more new potentially habitable exoplanets, either way, we will have a fun time discussing it  

Edited May 10, 2016 by Spaceception

[HebaruSan]

Looks like a standard "this is what we did in our program this month" press conference. Are there any actual indications that it'll be something major?

[Spaceception]

3 minutes ago, HebaruSan said:

Looks like a standard "this is what we did in our program this month" press conference. Are there any actual indications that it'll be something major?

The news outlets have said that NASA said that they would be making a big discovery.

Either way, it's Kepler!

[HebaruSan]

2 minutes ago, Spaceception said:

The news outlets have said that NASA said that they would be making a big discovery.

Either way, it's Kepler!

Did they? Which ones? I went to the science section of Google News, and the headlines were:

• 'Second Skin' May Reduce Wrinkles, Eyebags, Scientists Say
• From sweet potatoes to orchids: Kew report urges global scientific community to secure health of the planet
• Solomon Islands, Site of WW II Fghting, Are Vanishing
• Rare Mercury Transit Thrills Skywatchers Around the World (Photos)
• Ancient trade routes written in camel genes
• Atomic oxygen detected in Martian atmosphere
• Nearly Pure Water Ice Coats Pluto Moon Hydra
• Ancient lava bubbles reveal conditions on primordial Earth
• NASA's New Mercury Maps Offers Textured View Of Planet's Landscape
• It's not about to blow, but magma is moving under Mount St. Helens
• Blue Origin Landing Looks Very Sci-Fi When Seen From the Booster
• Killing of Famed Yellowstone Grizzly Intensifies Protection Debate
• Starfish babies return in droves to the West Coast following massive die-off
• 71-Million-Year-Old Fossils Excavated In Antarctica May Provide Insight On The End Of Age Of Dinosaurs
• A fight to protect 'the most valuable real estate in space'
• DAILY DISTRACTION: Scientists reconstruct 250-million-year-old aquatic reptile
• NASA opens vault of space-age tech
• Recovered SpaceX Falcon 9 booster headed back to port
• What are the chances of life on another planet?
• News about mystery star KIC 8462852

I checked the article about Tabby's star. No actual "news", no suggestion of an upcoming announcement, just a summary of previous reports. Unless they've pointed Kepler at Mercury, I don't see a story that looks related.

[Spaceception]

1 minute ago, HebaruSan said:

Did they? Which ones? I went to the science section of Google News, and the headlines were:

• 'Second Skin' May Reduce Wrinkles, Eyebags, Scientists Say
• From sweet potatoes to orchids: Kew report urges global scientific community to secure health of the planet
• Solomon Islands, Site of WW II Fghting, Are Vanishing
• Rare Mercury Transit Thrills Skywatchers Around the World (Photos)
• Ancient trade routes written in camel genes
• Atomic oxygen detected in Martian atmosphere
• Nearly Pure Water Ice Coats Pluto Moon Hydra
• Ancient lava bubbles reveal conditions on primordial Earth
• NASA's New Mercury Maps Offers Textured View Of Planet's Landscape
• It's not about to blow, but magma is moving under Mount St. Helens
• Blue Origin Landing Looks Very Sci-Fi When Seen From the Booster
• Killing of Famed Yellowstone Grizzly Intensifies Protection Debate
• Starfish babies return in droves to the West Coast following massive die-off
• 71-Million-Year-Old Fossils Excavated In Antarctica May Provide Insight On The End Of Age Of Dinosaurs
• A fight to protect 'the most valuable real estate in space'
• DAILY DISTRACTION: Scientists reconstruct 250-million-year-old aquatic reptile
• NASA opens vault of space-age tech
• Recovered SpaceX Falcon 9 booster headed back to port
• What are the chances of life on another planet?
• News about mystery star KIC 8462852

I checked the article about Tabby's star. No actual "news", no suggestion of an upcoming announcement, just a summary of previous reports. Unless they've pointed Kepler at Mercury, I don't see a story that looks related.

If you look up "NASA Kepler" on google, and go to news, it pops up.

Here's one example: http://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-will-be-making-a-major-kepler-announcement-tomorrow

[HebaruSan]

6 minutes ago, Spaceception said:

If you look up "NASA Kepler" on google, and go to news, it pops up.

Here's one example: http://www.sciencealert.com/nasa-will-be-making-a-major-kepler-announcement-tomorrow

Looks like hype/clickbaiting by the headline editor. The actual text does not say or even imply "major" (because the author, like us, has no idea what will be announced ) and is a copy/paste of the NASA press release plus a summary of what Kepler is.

Quote

to announce the latest discoveries made by its planet-hunting mission

 

Quote

Which means there’s no limit to what might be announced in relation to the extended mission’s findings.

 

Do let us know what they announce, though! I'll go the other direction and guess that they're having trouble keeping it operational after the recent "emergency mode" hiccup and will now be running it at half power.

[Spaceception]

Just now, HebaruSan said:

Looks like hype/clickbaiting by the headline editor. The actual text does not say or even imply "major" (because the author, like us, has no idea what will be announced ) and is a copy/paste of the NASA press release plus a summary of what Kepler is.

 

 

Do let us know what they announce, though! I'll go the other direction and guess that they're having trouble keeping it operational after the recent "emergency mode" hiccup and will now be running it at half power.

Good point, but still

Livestream has started!

[Kerbart]

So, what's the earth-shattering news?

[Spaceception]

8 minutes ago, Kerbart said:

So, what's the earth-shattering news?

Kepler 1229b looks interesting, are you watching the stream?

It looks like a Earth sized planet that gets roughly the same solar energy as Mars

Edited May 10, 2016 by Spaceception

[PB666]

basically they now have a list of 2500 planets detected, +1200 validated.

1593b, 705b also.

705b is prolly tidally locked. The 1593b is the best candidate, given its size and distance from its star.

Edited May 10, 2016 by PB666

[Kryten]

The actual news here is 1,284 new validated exoplanets.

[Spaceception]

Just now, Kryten said:

The actual news here is 1,284 new validated exoplanets.

With 9 new potentially habitable worlds

[ProtoJeb21]

The most promising is Kepler-1129 b (man, I never though any Kepler planets would have numbers over 1,000!). It is less than 30% larger than Earth and receives an amount of radiation that is in between what Earth and Mars gets.

Also, 400 posts!  

Edited May 10, 2016 by ProtoJeb21

[Spaceception]

2 minutes ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

The most promising is Kepler-1129 b

Ikr! New favorite planet!

[ProtoJeb21]

1 minute ago, Spaceception said:

Ikr! New favorite planet!

It's incredibly tempting to do follow-up observations with IRVEES...but how far away is that thing? I'll provide a nickname soon.

Also, I find Kepler-1593b to be the second most promising...if it's not a gas dwarf

Edited May 10, 2016 by ProtoJeb21

[Spaceception]

4 minutes ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

It's incredibly tempting to do follow-up observations with IRVEES...but how far away is that thing? I'll provide a nickname soon.

We might find out tomorrow morning, phl.upr.edu will likely put on the website.

Edited May 10, 2016 by Spaceception

[Superfluous J]

I think they should name it Izzy. Because 1129 kinda looks like IIZY and IIZY isn't a good name.

Q.E.D.

Also, more important than finding an "Earthlike" world, I'm more interested in the statistical analysis that can be done with this many data points.

[Scotius]

Statistical analysis will still be skewed by observational bias. We're still more likely to find massive planets than Earth-like and smaller.

[insert_name]

5 hours ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

It's incredibly tempting to do follow-up observations with IRVEES...but how far away is that thing? I'll provide a nickname soon.

Also, I find Kepler-1593b to be the second most promising...if it's not a gas dwarf

that would be just as cool, also 1410b is interesting, about the same amount of radiation as earth.

[Spaceception]

7 minutes ago, insert_name said:

that would be just as cool, also 1410b is interesting, about the same amount of radiation as earth.

And slightly smaller than 452b, also, since it orbits a M type star, it'll last a lot longer as well.

Edited May 11, 2016 by Spaceception

[Superfluous J]

5 hours ago, Scotius said:

Statistical analysis will still be skewed by observational bias. We're still more likely to find massive planets than Earth-like and smaller.

You can account for that in your analysis.

[magnemoe]

this grah from http://nextbigfuture.com/2016/05/number-of-known-exoplanets-has.html is interesting, 
Lack of mars sized bodies is simply that they are hard to spot, not that mars / mercury sized planets are rare. 
Hard to detect is probably why earth sized are rare compared to the 1.2 to 3.1 segment. 

But why is sub jupiter size group so small? 
 

[Scotius]

Because they are actually rare? This picture looks weird - or maybe our Solar system is a rare case?

[kerbiloid]

I remember the time when there was written in the books:
"There are at least 2000-3000 asteroids in the asteroid belt, so the astronomers have met a problem with names for the newly discovered ones."

[KAL 9000]

3 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

I remember the time when there was written in the books:
"There are at least 2000-3000 asteroids in the asteroid belt, so the astronomers have met a problem with names for the newly discovered ones."

Only that? Boy, the numbers have gone up!

18 hours ago, ProtoJeb21 said:

It's incredibly tempting to do follow-up observations with IRVEES...but how far away is that thing? I'll provide a nickname soon.

Also, I find Kepler-1593b to be the second most promising...if it's not a gas dwarf

Don't insult the gas dwarfs! They're a misunderstood breed of planet, and you're hurting their feelings.

18 hours ago, Spaceception said:

Ikr! New favorite planet!

I still like 186f, but this new one's a close runner-up. Never thought Kepler discoveries would get into four digits when it launched. And back then, in 2009, there was no KSP! What impoverished lives we lived back then!