NASA’s Kepler mission successfully lauched into space last night.
Kepler Lanch - Source: NASA
It will be about two months before the observatory sends back first data, however it will take up to three years to confirm any Earth-like planets orbiting their stars in a habitable zone. Meanwhile, you can step into Kepler’s shoes with this interactive app:
Detailed info about the mission is available at the NASA’s Kepler page. You can also follow the Kepler’s Twitter feed.
The hunt for Earth-like planets is on
[...] little more than a month ago, NASA launched the Kepler space telescope which is specifically designed to survey our neighborhood [...]