Current Affairs 18th February 2018

Current Affairs 18th February 2018 - Important Points

• Which NASA Mission discovered nearly 100 new exoplanets - Kepler Mission

Current Affairs 18th February 2018 - Details

Which NASA Mission discovered nearly 100 new exoplanets - Kepler Mission

Kepler Mission of NASA has successfully discovered approx 100 new exoplanets. This mission was started in 2014.
Important to mention here that Exoplanets are those planets which are not located in our solar system.

More About NASA's Kepler Mission :

• The telescope mainly searches for exoplanet transits by registering dips in light caused by the shadow of an exoplanet as it crosses in front of its host star.

• With the recent discovery, the total number of exoplanets discovered by K2 mission goes upto to almost 300.

• The first planet orbiting a star similar to our own Sun was detected only in 1995.

• Today some 3,600 exoplanets have been found, ranging from rocky Earth-sized planets to large gas giants like Jupiter.