Kepler space telescope may be able to detect Oort Cloud objects as well

Sunday, February 28, 2010

This is pretty interesting. In addition to being able to detect extrasolar planets by the transits they make in front of their stars, apparently Kepler may also spot a number of Oort Cloud objects passing in front of stars during its mission as well. The difference between these and extrasolar planets is that extrasolar planets will be observed over and over again as they pass in front of their stars in a regular orbit, whereas possible Oort Cloud objects would only be observed once.

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