NASA To Announce Latest Findings By Kepler Spacecraft

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a media teleconference Thursday, Aug. 26, at 1 p.m. EDT to discuss the Kepler spacecraft's latest discovery
about an intriguing planetary system.

Kepler, a space observatory, looks for the data signatures of planets
by measuring tiny decreases in the brightness of stars when planets
cross in front of, or transit, them. In June, mission scientists
announced the mission has identified more than 700 planet candidates,
including five candidate systems that appear to have more than one transiting planet.

Participating telecon panelists are:
-- Jon Morse, director, Science Mission Directorate Astrophysics
Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington
-- William Borucki, Kepler Mission science principal investigator,
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
-- Matthew Holman, associate director, Theoretical Astrophysics
Division, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge,
Mass.
-- Alycia Weinberger, astronomer, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism,
Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington

To participate in the teleconference, reporters should e-mail J.D.
Harrington at j.d.harrington@nasa.gov by 11 a.m. EDT, Thursday, Aug.
26. Journalists must include their name, media affiliation and
telephone number. Supporting information for the briefing will be
posted at: http://www.nasa.gov/kepler when the telecon begins.

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live at:
http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

Source: NASA