Jan. 27, 2011

Michael Mewhinney / Rachel Hoover 
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. 
650.604.3937/650-604-0643
michael.s.mewhinney@nasa.gov,  rachel.hoover@nasa.gov  
MEDIA ADVISORY: M11-06

NASA TO ANNOUNCE NEW PLANETARY DISCOVERIES

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- NASA will host a news briefing at 10 a.m. 
PST, Wednesday, Feb. 2, to announce the Kepler mission's latest 
findings about planets outside our solar system. The briefing will be 
held in the NASA Headquarters auditorium at 300 E St S.W. in 
Washington and carried live on NASA Television and the agency's 
website at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv. 

Reporters may view the televised press conference at NASA's Ames 
Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., in the main auditorium, Bldg. 
N-201 or ask questions by phone. To obtain dial-in information, 
journalists must send their name, affiliation and telephone number to 
Steve Cole by e-mail at stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov by 9 a.m. PST on Feb. 
1. 

Kepler is the first NASA mission capable of finding Earth-size planets 
in or near the "habitable zone," the region in a planetary system 
where liquid water can exist on the surface of the orbiting planet. 
Although additional observations will be needed over time to achieve 
that milestone, Kepler is detecting planets and planet candidates 
with a wide range of sizes and orbital distances to help us better 
understand our place in the galaxy. 

The news conference will follow the scheduled release of Kepler 
mission science data on Feb. 1. The data release will update the 
number of planet candidates and is based on observations conducted 
between May 2 and Sept. 17, 2009. 

Participants are: 

Douglas Hudgins, Kepler program scientist, NASA Headquarters, 
Washington

William Borucki, Kepler Science principal investigator, Ames

Jack Lissauer, Kepler co-investigator and planetary scientist, Ames

Debra Fischer, professor of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, 
Conn.

For more information about the Kepler mission and to view the Feb. 1 
data release, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov/kepler

	
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