Launched by NASA in 2009, the Kepler space telescope was outfitted with equipment to discover and study Earth-sized planets in the Milky Way galaxy. It was named after the 17th century scientist and ...

At this time last year, the scientists working on Kepler, NASA’s fantastically successful planet-hunting space telescope, were ecstatic. The probe, launched in 2009, had originally been given just ...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- An eighth planet has been found in a faraway solar system, matching our own in numbers. Even more amazing, machines and not humans made the discovery. NASA joined with Google ...

After three years of searching, scientists have caught the elusive phenomenon. — -- The "brilliant flash" that occurs when a star dies and explodes has been captured for the first time in visible ...

When the Kepler space telescope malfunctioned last spring, it looked as though its incredibly successful planet-hunting mission might be over—and NASA made that sad fact official a few months later.

The Kepler probe's focus is on finding another habitable planet. — -- NASA says we're on our way to discovering Earth 2.0. The Kepler Space Telescope has located a planet and star closely ...

NASA announced Tuesday the discovery of an unprecedented number of planets beyond our solar system — astronomers have confirmed the existence of 1,284 new worlds orbiting distant stars. These planets ...