So, the researchers had to develop new techniques to look for signals in the Kepler data.Ĭalling Kepler an "elderly" telescope, study lead Iain McDonald, of the University of Manchester, described the signals as "extremely difficult to find," especially with the telescope's "blurred" vision and since many other objects were in its vision. Among the newly-observed events, four candidates were consistent with that of free-floating planets with masses similar to that of Earth.Īlthough the Kepler Mission was specifically used to survey our area of the Milky Way in order to find other planets potentially in the habitable zone, it was not designed to find planets using microlensing or to look at the "extremely dense star fields" in the inner Galaxy, RAS said. The team spotted a total of 27 short-lived microlensing signals, most of which were previously observed but five of them were new. During the campaign, Kepler focused on an area with millions of stars close to the center of our galaxy to spot "rare" gravitational microlensing events. The retired telescope helped a team of researchers find evidence of a population of rogue planets free-floating in our galaxy.įor a new study, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), researchers used the data obtained by the retired Kepler Space Telescope in 2016 during the K2 mission, RAS said in a news release.
The Kepler Space Telescope has just proved that even an "elderly" telescope with "blurred vision" can help provide valuable scientific information. Kepler spotted gravitational microlensing signals even though it was not designed for it.
Unlike Earth, these planets are not attached to a host star.The retired Kepler Space Telescope spotted signals of possible rogue planets.
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