The Kepler Spacecraft and "Her" New discoveries.

When I first read about this discovery the Pink Floyd song Two Suns in The Sunset flashed into my mind. This is from the 1983 album The final Cut. The Final Cut happened to be the last Pink Floyd album that Roger Waters was on. I know that has nothing to do with the NASA'S mission that actually discovered a Star Wars like planet with two suns, but that is just were my mind went!

The fact that I have long been interested in SETI (The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) and familiar with Mountain View California I was surprised that I did not realise that they were behind the Kepler Mission which is lead by a astronomer by the name of Laurence Doyle.

This mission is something that has taken years to develop and went though many renovations before it would receive the approval from NASA HQ. The spacecraft is designed with what is know as a photometer which is the device that allows information to be sent back to earth. The goal of this project is too seek out what could be considered the “Holy Grail” for SETI, the discovery of planets that are earth like and may have life. It was named after a German astronomer Johannes Kepler. This is a very cold planet with makes it not a very good candidate for life.The section of of space that is being investigated, is in a section of the or the Milky Way know as Cygnus or “The Swan” consolation. This section includes about 156,000 stars in its filed of view.

Besides this latest planet discovery, there are six other very interesting planets that have been confirmed although they have very uninteresting names. These are Kepler 4b. 5B 6b 7b, 8b and the smallest planet yet, that is also the first rocky planet found. This is Kepler 10.The first five planets that I mention are known as a “Hot Jupiter” because of their size and heat.The section of of space that is being investigated, is in a section of the or the Milky Way know as Cygnus also known as “The Swan” consolation. This section includes about 156,000 stars in its filed of view.

As NASA continues to play “eye-spy” on the Milky Way, I can not help but wonder what is the point? Yes I do understand the natural curiosity to know what is out there, it is just that all that money that is being spent on this seems waisted. How will it help our life here on this planet? A planet that is being slowly suffocated by smog and our oceans are slowly dyeing! All this time, we hover with our hand over the “self-destruct” button and are constantly searching for better ways to kill, as our people wallow in poverty. If there is intelligent life out there, I am sure they are hiding from us, for who would want to associate themselves with a species such as us?