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NASA's Kepler Mission By the Numbers

Kepler was in orbit 9.6 years, used 3.12 gallons of fuel, observed 530,506 stars and led to the discovery of 2,662 planets.

During 9.6 years in orbit, the Kepler space telescope observed more than half a million stars and discovered more than 2,600 planets. See the mission by the numbers.

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NASA's Kepler mission revealed that there are more planets than stars in our galaxy. It opened our eyes to diverse worlds – some entirely unlike planets found in our solar system.
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Video detailing the science highlights of NASA's Kepler space telescope.
Kepler's Science Results
Volunteers using DiskDetective, a NASA-sponsored citizen science website to find potential planetary nurseries, have made 1 million classifications in less than a year. Goddard astrophysicist Marc Kuchner, the project's principal investigator, explains how it works.
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'Disk Detectives' Top 1 Million Classifications in Search for Planetary Habitats
'Disk Detectives' Top 1 Million Classifications in Search for Planetary Habitats
Twenty years ago astronomers discovered the first planet around a sun-like star, 51 Pegasi b. This is the story of the pioneers in planet-hunting and how those who have followed are now poised to answer one of humanity’s most ancient questions: is there life elsewhere in the universe?
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The Search for Another Earth
The Search for Another Earth
This artist's concept shows a Jupiter-like planet, called Upsilon Andromedae b, soaking up the scorching rays of its nearby star. NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope determined that this planet is two-faced, with one side perpetually in the cold dark, and the other forever blistering under the heat of its star.
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Exotic World Blisters Under the Sun
Exotic World Blisters Under the Sun
Artist's impression of the five-Earth mass planet, Gliese 581 c, found in the habitable zone around the red dwarf Gliese 581, with the instrument HARPS on the ESO 3.6-m telescope.
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The Earth-like Planet Gliese 581c (Artist's Impression)
The Earth-like Planet Gliese 581c (Artist's Impression)
Celebrate your rocking single status with a rogue planet, the world without a star.
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Illustration of a rogue planet.
Rogue planet Valentine
An artist's conception of Kepler-78b orbiting its parent star once every 8.5 hours.
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Kepler-78b
Kepler-78b
The conception illustration depicts how solar pressure can be used to balance NASA's Kepler spacecraft, keeping the telescope stable enough to continue monitoring distant stars in search of transiting planets.
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Kepler's Second Light: How K2 Will Work
Kepler's Second Light: How K2 Will Work
The diversity of exoplanets is large — more than 800 planets outside the Solar System have been found to date, with thousands more waiting to be confirmed.
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An Exoplanet Seen From Its Moon
An Exoplanet Seen From Its Moon
This chart compares the smallest known exoplanets, or planets orbiting outside the solar system, to our own planets Mars and Earth.
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Smallest exoplanets compared to Earth and Mars
Smallest exoplanets compared to Earth and Mars
Artist’s conception of the extrasolar ring system circling the young giant planet or brown dwarf J1407b. The rings are shown eclipsing the young sun-like star J1407, as they would have appeared in early 2007.
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J1407b: Super-Saturn
J1407b: Super-Saturn
The first exoplanet discovered around a sun-like star, 51 Pegasi b made us question what we knew of our universe and launched the search for new worlds.
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Infographic: Profile of planet 51 Pegasi b
Infographic: Profile of planet 51 Pegasi b
A series of images of a distant gas giant reveal its orbit around its star Beta Pictoris, located some 60 light-years from Earth.
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Gemini Planet Imager shows darting exoplanet
Gemini Planet Imager shows darting exoplanet
Like ancient explorers who looked to the stars to guide them to new worlds, astronomers today use stars to discover worlds many light years beyond our solar system. By studying stars and their unique influence, we can learn a great deal about their worlds – even their potential to sustain life as we know it.
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Illustrations of different star types
The Lives of Stars
This illustration shows one of the three newly discovered planets in the star cluster Messier 67.
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Messier 67: Star Cluster
Messier 67: Star Cluster
Twelve Exoplanet discoveries from Kepler that are less than twice the size of Earth and reside in the habitable zone of their host star. The sizes of the exoplanets are represented by the size of each sphere. These are arranged by size from left to right, and by the type of star they orbit, from the M stars that are significantly cooler and smaller than the sun, to the K stars that are somewhat cooler and smaller than the sun, to the G stars that include the sun. The sizes of the planets are enlarged by 25X compared to the stars. The Earth is shown for reference.
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Kepler's Greatest Hits
Kepler's Greatest Hits
This artist's concept illustrates two planetary systems -- 55 Cancri (top) and our own. Blue lines show the orbits of planets, including the dwarf planet Pluto in our solar system.
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Our Solar System's Cousin?
Our Solar System's Cousin?
Relative sizes of Kepler habitable zone planets discovered as of 2013 April 18. Except for Earth, these are artists' renditions.
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Lining Kepler Habitable Zone Planets Up
Lining Kepler Habitable Zone Planets Up
There are 4,696 planet candidates now known with the release of the seventh Kepler planet candidate catalog - an increase of 521 since the release of the previous catalog in Jan. 2015.
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Kepler Planet Candidates, July 2015
Kepler Planet Candidates, July 2015
The first discovery of an Earth-size planet in the habitable zones of another star meant planets other than Earth may have liquid water on their surface.
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Infographic: Planet Kepler-186f, trailblazer
Infographic: Planet Kepler-186f, trailblazer
Transit data are rich with information. By measuring the depth of the dip in brightness and knowing the size of the star, scientists can determine the size or radius of the planet. The orbital period of the planet can be determined by measuring the elapsed time between transits. Once the orbital period is known, Kepler's Third Law of Planetary Motion can be applied to determine the average distance of the planet from its stars.
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Light Curve of a Planet Transiting Its Star
Light Curve of a Planet Transiting Its Star
This plot compares the colors of solar system planets to the color of the hot-Jupiter-class planet HD 189733b.
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Visible-light Color of Planets Plot
Visible-light Color of Planets Plot
During the four years of science operations, the pointing precision of the spacecraft was controlled to within a few milli-arcseconds. That is the equivalent of keeping your gaze steady on a grain of salt from a quarter mile away.
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Kepler's Precision Pointing
Kepler's Precision Pointing
Tell someone they're unique, with our Earth valentine.
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Illustration of the Earth
Earth Valentine
The artist's conception shows a hypothetical planet with two moons orbiting in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star.
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Red Dwarf Planet
Red Dwarf Planet

Explore Alien Worlds

Exoplanet Travel Bureau

This set of travel posters envision a day when the creativity of scientists and engineers will allow us to do things we can only dream of now.
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Strange New Worlds

Explore an interactive gallery of some of the most intriguing and exotic planets discovered so far.
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A planetary tour through time. The ancients debated the existence of planets beyond our own; now we know of thousands.

Historic Timeline

A planetary tour through time. The ancients debated the existence of planets beyond our own; now we know of thousands.
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