90.7 WMFE

NASA scientists are expected to announce findings Tuesday in the effort to discover new planets.

The Kepler Space Telescope is on the hunt for exoplanets – planets that are outside our own solar system.

Kepler does this by aiming its cameras at distant stars. When an exoplanet crosses the star, the light dims ever so slightly.

Earlier this year, Kepler was rescued from a so-called ‘emergency mode.’ Technicians were able to restore control of the space craft and continue  the hunt for exoplanets and to study young stars, supernovae and other cosmic phenomena.

Since launching in 2009, Kepler has discovered over 1,000 exoplanets. Because of these findings, astronomers think at least one planet orbits every star in the sky.