The Kepler Project
Transits provide the only way right now that we can reliably study the occurrence of extrasolar terrestrial planets (none known now).
•Primary Mirror
•CCD’s
•Schmidt Corrector
•Thermal
•Radiator
•Electronics
Sunshade
A wide-view telescope monitors 100,000 stars in a single field for >4 years to detect Earth-size planets
•Finds hundreds of terrestrial planets within 2 AU of stars
•For Earth-size and larger planets, determines:
–Frequency
–Size distribution
–Orbital distribution
–Association with stellar characteristics
Launched  2007?