Kepler's 5 Years in Space

For four years, Kepler tirelessly stared at 150,000 stars, meticulously recording a brightness measurement every 30 minutes. A dimming of starlight indicated that a possible planet had transited the face of a distant star. That transit detection would set off an intensive investigation, using various follow-up techniques and ground-based observations to determine the planethood of the signal. The gallery highlights milestone moments and discoveries that the exquisite data from Kepler have delivered, so far...