MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. NASA invites the public to join an online chat with a Kepler Mission team member who will answer your questions about exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system, and a new planet finding on Monday, Jan. 10, at 12:30 p.m. PST live from the American Astronomical Society (AAS) conference in Seattle.
Participants in the live chat will be able to interact with Natalie Batalha, a professor of physics and astronomy at San Jose State University, Calif., and deputy science team lead for NASAs Kepler Mission.
Kepler is NASA’s first mission to look specifically for Earth-size planets in the habitable zones (areas where liquid water could exist) around stars like our sun. Kepler will spend 3-1/2 years surveying more than 100,000 stars in the Cygnus-Lyra region of our Milky Way galaxy. More than 300 exoplanets have been discovered previously, most of which are low-density gas giants, such as Jupiter or Saturn in our own solar system.
The event will last approximately one hour. For more information on the chat and to participate with Batalha, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/kepler_chat.html
For more information about NASAs Kepler Mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/kepler
