The Kepler space telescope, launched by NASA in 2009, has confirmed over a thousand exoplanets and identified thousands more candidates, greatly advancing our understanding of extrasolar planetary systems.
The mission that was launched in March 2009 and is dedicated to searching for planets orbiting other stars is called Kepler. This NASA space telescope was focused on discovering transiting exoplanets by monitoring the brightness of over 150,000 stars in the constellation of Cygnus. Thanks to its precision, Kepler has found over a thousand confirmed exoplanets and thousands more candidates, which suggests that planets similar to Earth might be the most common type in our galaxy.
Despite technical issues with its reaction wheels, Kepler's mission has significantly added to our knowledge of planets outside our solar system, leading to insights about the frequency of Earth-like planets and the arrangement of planetary systems, which is critical for our understanding of potential life-hosting planets in the universe.
In conclusion, the Kepler space telescope has been instrumental in expanding our knowledge about exoplanets and their potential habitability, which represents a massive leap forward in our quest to understand the universe.