NASA New Earth-sister Kepler 452b announced by NASA

[|Glitch|]

I would be surprised, the planet is far away, small and next to a relatively bright star. On the other hand, I'm surprised by science frequently...
E-ELT is under construction, spectroscopy of exoplanet atmospheres is one of the main science goals.

Kepler-452b has one advantage going for it - the exoplanet was discovered using the transit method. Which should make the spectroscopy of Kepler-452b much more likely. Exoplanet atmospheres would be extremely difficult to discern if they did not transit in front of their parent star. We would have to wait until the James Webb Space Telescope came on-line in late 2018.

 

[DaveC426913]

Kepler-452b has one advantage going for it - the exoplanet was discovered using the transit method.

True. Though that makes me wonder why they don't already know whether its rocky or gaseous. Surely the light curve would be markedly different for each.

 

[mfb]

True. Though that makes me wonder why they don't already know whether its rocky or gaseous. Surely the light curve would be markedly different for each.

Why?
The orbital speed is about 30 km/s, an atmosphere of ~50 km (with relevant density) would influence the light curve by less than a percent (1% of a 0.01%-effect!), and only alter the shape for about 2 seconds each. There is no way to see such a small and short effect with Kepler.

 

[Bandersnatch]

True. Though that makes me wonder why they don't already know whether its rocky or gaseous. Surely the light curve would be markedly different for each.

Head to:
http://www.planethunters.org/
where you can help classify light curves collected by the Kepler mission. The follow up observations are somewhat more detailed, and their data can be seen in the discovery papers listed on that site.
It should help appreciate what kind of data constitutes a transit and how much can you read out of it.

Here's an example for Kepler-289 d:

 

[DaveC426913]

Head to:
http://www.planethunters.org/
where you can help classify light curves collected by the Kepler mission. The follow up observations are somewhat more detailed, and their data can be seen in the discovery papers listed on that site.
It should help appreciate what kind of data constitutes a transit and how much can you read out of it.

Yeah, I've done a fair bit of planet hunting there.

 

[LeDragonian]

They might be broadcasting their own version of Star-Trek!

Maybe they have a less annoying Cpt. T. Kirk.

 

[Mad scientist]

Is there any similar telescope planned to replace it eventually?

The James Webb Space Telescope is due to be launched in 2018:

http://jwst.nasa.gov/about.html

 

[rootone]

Yes I knew of the JWST, but this seems to be more of a replacement for Hubble (with extended infrared sensitivity).
I'm not sure if it could be used for the same type of planet-finding work which Kepler is doing.

 

[mfb]

TESS is basically an improved Kepler telescope.

It can reveal interesting candidates for observations with JWST which has a much broader science mission (JWST cannot keep observing the same stars for years).

PLATO could be even better, but certainly later.

See also the "Exoplanet search projects" navigation bar at the end of the article for more missions.

 

[Mad scientist]

Yes I knew of the JWST, but this seems to be more of a replacement for Hubble (with extended infrared sensitivity).
I'm not sure if it could be used for the same type of planet-finding work which Kepler is doing.

One of its main objectives is to study the atmospheres of exoplanets and search for the building blocks of life.

 

[Mad scientist]

The ESAis also planning the PLATO observatory to discover and characterize rocky extrasolar planets:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLATO_( spacecraft )

 

[Arctura]

A tragedy this planet is so far away. At this distance it's very difficult to analyze the planets properties and all we can do are assumptions about the surface and interior. There may yet be types of planets we know nothing about and hence we cannot say for sure if this planet is earth-like at all. But every discovery is a step towards new knowledge and so I am very glad we kno finally about a potential earth-like planet around a sun-like star. The other information on the website are very interesting. If one boldly assumes there evolved intelligent life on this planet, the civilization could be very likely ahead of us or already lost to extinction. Well, listening won't hurt anyone...

 

[Mad scientist]

If one boldly assumes there evolved intelligent life on this planet, the civilization could be very likely ahead of us or already lost to extinction. Well, listening won't hurt anyone...

A civilization could also be less advanced than us too. The planet may be older than Earth but live could have evolved later than it did here.

 

[2milehi]

Maybe they have a less annoying Cpt. T. Kirk.

Or less whiny members on their physics forums.