NASA is getting ready to launch a new space-based telescope that will search for Earth-like planets around other stars. The $600 million Kepler mission should reveal how common it is for other solar ...

The reaction wheels, shown in this diagram, are the source of Kepler's woes. (NASA graphic) NASA engineers have successfully transitioned its planet-seeking Kepler telescope to "point rest state" -- ...

NASA’s elite planet-hunting spacecraft has been declared dead, just a few months shy of its 10th anniversary. Officials announced the Kepler Space Telescope’s demise Tuesday. Already well past its ...

After nearly a decade of groundbreaking exploration, NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope concluded its mission, leaving a lasting legacy in the search for exoplanets. The spacecraft, which confirmed the ...

A big, hot rock made its debut Tuesday. It's a planet orbiting a star 560 light-years away, and it is claimed to be the smallest planet discovered outside our solar system. Astronomers have found ...

The engineers huddled around a telemetry screen, and the mood was tense. They were watching streams of data from a crippled spacecraft more than 50 million miles away so far that even at the speed of ...

If you’re looking for Earthlike planets around other stars — places about the size and temperature of our own planet, where life could in theory be found — it might seem like a letdown to stumble ...

Think you could stare at a single spot without blinking for 3½ years? Then be glad you’re not NASA’s Kepler telescope, which is set to blast into space from Cape Canaveral, Fla., this Friday night.

Astronomers studying data from NASA's retired Kepler space telescope discovered a new system of seven "scorching" planets orbiting a distant star that is bigger and hotter than the sun, the space ...

Launched by NASA in 2009, the Kepler space telescope was outfitted with equipment to discover and study Earth-sized planets in the Milky Way galaxy. It was named after the 17th century scientist and ...