WKU News & Events

February 25, 2002

WKU Astronomy Program Part Of
NASA'S Kepler Mission To Search For Planets
Beyond Our Solar System

Bowling Green, Ky. - Western Kentucky University's astronomy program will participate in a NASA mission to search for Earth-like planets around stars beyond our solar system.

The Kepler Mission is scheduled for launch in 2006 and will use a unique spaceborne telescope to look for extrasolar planets. The ground-based portion of the mission will utilize Western's STARBASE telescope network for observations and research.

"Western Kentucky University has never been involved in a space mission before. That's why it is very exciting to be on the team for the Kepler Mission," said Dr. Charles McGruder, head of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. "We expect and hope that Western will be involved in many more missions."

Western will be the lead institution in the educational portion of the mission called the Wide Access Technology Transfer Program. The WATT program has a budget of $625,000 over four years, said Dr. McGruder, who added that 1 percent to 2 percent of the budget for all NASA space missions must be spent on educational programs.

As part of the Kepler Mission, high-precision imaging equipment to detect light from stars will be installed in the spaceborne telescope and in telescopes at educational institutions.

For example, Dr. McGruder said, options could include placing the devices in a robotic telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona and at a proposed telescope in Israel.

"Essentially this will allow us to measure the brightness of stars very accurately and that is what is required to detect extrasolar planets," he said.

Making research technology available to students is the key idea of Western's STARBASE (Students Training for Achievement in Research Based on Analytical Space-science Experiences) Network.

Through the Wide Access Technology Transfer program, "we will provide students and teachers with access to the high technology achieved by the Kepler Mission," Dr. McGruder said. "That's what STARBASE is all about."

More information about NASA's Kepler Mission is available at http://www.kepler.arc.nasa.gov/

More information about WKU's STARBASE Network is available at http://starbase.wku.edu/

For more information, contact Dr. Charles McGruder at (270) 745-4357. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via E-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.