NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Click image for multiple resolutions.
This artist's conception illustrates Kepler-22b, a planet known to comfortably circle in the habitable zone of a sun-like star. It is the first planet that NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed to orbit in a star's habitable zone -- the region around a star where liquid water, a requirement for life on Earth, could persist. The planet is 2.4 times the size of Earth, making it the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a star like our sun.

Scientists do not yet know if the planet has a predominantly rocky, gaseous, or liquid composition. It's possible that the world would have clouds in its atmosphere, as depicted here in the artist's interpretation.
Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech

Click image for multiple resolutions.
This diagram compares our own solar system to Kepler-22, a star system containing the first "habitable zone" planet discovered by NASA's Kepler mission. The habitable zone is the sweet spot around a star where temperatures are right for water to exist in its liquid form. Liquid water is essential for life on Earth.

Kepler-22's star is a bit smaller than our sun, so it's habitable zone is slightly closer in. The diagram shows an artist's rendering of the planet comfortably orbiting within the habitable zone, similar to where Earth circles the sun. Kepler-22b has a yearly orbit of 289 days. The planet is the smallest known to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a sun-like star. It's about 2.4 times the size of Earth.
Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech

UPDATED with resources related to the announcements.

Thank you for your interest in the Kepler-22b and Kepler Science Conference news briefing on Dec. 5, 2011, at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. To register for the media event, please contact Public Affairs Officer Michele Johnson. If you would like to interview any of the speakers, please email her or find her at the media registration area during the event.

Please wear your media badge at all times to indicate that you are active media. We appreciate the return of the media badges as you leave the event.

Briefing Resources

• Dec. 1, 2011 MEDIA ADVISORY: NASA Announcing Kepler Discoveries at Science Conference
• Dec. 5, 2011 Kepler Science Conference announcement NEWS RELEASE
• Dec. 5, 2011 Kepler Science Conference announcement FEATURE STORY
• Briefing PowerPoint slides [17.7 MB]
• Recorded video of news briefing

Panelist Names, Titles and Biographies

• Pete Worden, center director of NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
• Natalie Batalha, Kepler deputy science team lead, San Jose State University
• William Borucki, Kepler principal investigator at Ames
• Jill Tarter, director of the Center for SETI Research, SETI Institute, Mountain View, Calif.

Kepler Image and Video Resources

• Video: Kepler Field of View
• Video: Kepler Overview
• Video: Transit Light Curve
• For Kepler images, visit http://kepler.nasa.gov/multimedia/.
• NASA image usage policy

Social Media

• Twitter account for Kepler: @nasakepler
• Twitter account for Ames: @nasaames
• Hashtag for this event: #kepscicon

Related Links

• Watch the Kepler Science Conference online at:
  http://connect.arc.nasa.gov/kepler
• Kepler Science Conference website
• Kepler Science Conference map, directions, logistics, etc.
• Kepler mission website
• Kepler mission fact sheet (pdf 2.2MB)
• Kepler lithographs →
• Kepler FAQs →
• Past Kepler Discoveries
• NASA's Ames Research Center

Kepler Science Conference Session Recordings

Day 1:
• Welcome Remarks. Pete Worden, Center Dir., NASA Ames; Roger Hunter, Kepler Project Mgr., NASA Ames; William Borucki, PI Kepler Mission, NASA Ames; Matt Holman, Kepler Science Conference Chair, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
• The Kepler Mission and Exoplanet Statistics. Greg Laughlin, University of California, Santa Cruz
• CoRoT Exoplanet Search. Claire Moutou, Laboratory of Astrophysics, Marseille
• Kepler Mission and Exoplanet Statistics. William Borucki, NASA Ames Research Center
• Kepler's Exoplanet Survey: Honing in on eta-Earth. Natalie Batalha, San Jose State University
• Overview of the Kepler Science Operations Center Pipeline. Jon Jenkins, SETI Institute/NASA Ames Research Center
• Detection of Threshold Crossing Events in the First Three Quarters of Kepler Data. Peter Tenenbaum, SETI Institute/NASA Ames Research Center
• Uniform Modeling of the Kepler Objects of Interest Catalog. Jason Rowe, SETI Institute/NASA Ames Research Center
• Kepler Completeness Study. Jessie Christiansen, SETI Institute/NASA Ames Research Center
• Noise Sources Impacting Kepler's Photometry and Mission Goals. Douglas Caldwell, SETI Institute/NASA Ames Research Center
• Using Spitzer to Estimate the Kepler False Positive Rate and to Validate Kepler Candidates. Jean-Michel Desert, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
• Patterns of Low-mass Planet Occurrence from Kepler and Doppler Planet Searches. Andrew Howard, University of California, Berkeley
• Occurrence, Mass Distribution and Orbital Properties of Super-Earths and Neptune-Mass Planets from the HARPS Survey. Christophe Lovis, University of Geneva
• Formation and Structure of Neptune-size Exoplanets. Peter Bodenheimer, UCO/Lick Observatory, Univ. of California, Santa Cruz
• RV Follow-Up of Small Planets from Kepler: Verification, Masses, and Densities. Geoff Marcy, University of California, Berkeley
• RV Follow-Up of Small Planets from Kepler: Planet Bulk Composition and Interior Structure. Leslie Rogers, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Limits from Kepler and the MEarch Project on the Occurrence Rate of Super-Earths and Neptunes Around M Dwarfs. Courtney Dressing, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
• Kepler Transit Frequency Statistics in the Presence of Statistical False Positives. Philip Nutzman, University of California, Santa Cruz
• The Validation of Earth-size Planets. Francois Fressin, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
• Kepler-11: Super-Earths or Mini-Neptunes? Constraints from Mass Loss. Eric Lopez, University of California, Santa Cruz
• The Chemistry of Planet Formation: Detailed Abundances of Stars with Low-Mass Planets Discovered by Kepler. Simon Schuler, NOAO
• When is an Earth-analog Really an Earth-analog? Jill Tarter, SETI Institute

Day 2:
• Kepler Exoplanet Candidate Host Stars are Preferentially Metal Rich. Kevin Schlaufman, University of California, Santa Cruz
• Follow-up Observations and Modelling of Kepler Circumbinary Planet Candidates. Jerome Orosz, San Diego State University
• Validation of Habitable-Zone Super Earth Kepler Candidates with Warm Spitzer. Sarah Ballard, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
• Accurate Stellar Parameters of Low-Mass Kepler Planet Hosts. Philip Muirhead, California Institute of Technology
• Measuring the Physical Properties of Kepler's M Dwarf Planet Hosts. John Johnson, Caltech
• Assessing the Kepler Inventory with Planet Hunters. Megan Schwamb, Yale University
• What will Gaia do for Kepler? Alessandro Sozzetti, INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Torino
• SOFIA: Capabilities for Studying Exoplanets in the Kepler Era and Beyond. Edward Dunham
• Astrophysics with Kepler During an Extended Mission. Martin Still, NASA Ames Research Ctr/ Bay Area Environmental Research Inst.
• Kepler in an Extended Mission. Steve Howell, Kepler Deputy Project Scientist
• Recent Operational Improvements to High Precision Photometric Observations with Warm IRAC. Sean Carey
• Statistical Arguments that Most Kepler Multi-Planet Candidates are Real Planets. Jack Lissauer, NASA Ames Research Center
• Detailed Dynamical Portraits of Other Planetary Systems. Daniel Fabrycky, University of California, Santa Cruz
• The Kepler-18 Three Planet System. William Cochran, McDonald Observatory, The University of Texas at Austin
• The Multiple Planet System Kepler-20. Nick Gautier, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• In Situ Planet Formation Models of the Kepler-11 Six Planet System. Elisa Quintana, SETI Institute/NASA Ames Research Center
• Detection of Quasi-periodic Transiting Planets with Kepler. Eric Agol, University of Washington
• Eccentricities & Inclinations in Kepler's Planetary Systems. Eric Ford, University of Florida
• Constraining Orbital Eccentricity through Transit Photometry Alone: Multibody Asterodensity Profiling (MAP). Varun Manthri, University College London
• Confirmation and Characterization of Multitransiting Exoplanet Systems with Anti-Correlated Transit Timing Variations. Jason Steffen, Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics
• The Secular Character of Multi-planet Systems: Kepler-10, 11 and 16. Christa Van Laerhoven, The University of Arizona
• Analysis of 224 Kepler Exoplanets in 93 Multiple Systems. (part 1, part 2) David Ciardi, NASA Exoplanet Science Institute/Caltech - part 1, part 2
• Kepler Public Talk

Day 3:
• Using the Composition of Super-Earths to Track Formation Processes. Diana Valencia Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Accumulation of Hydrogen-Rich Atmospheres of Nebular Origin on Short-Period Super-Earths: Implications for Kepler-11 Planets. Masahiro Ikoma, Tokyo Institute of Technology
• Core Erosion in Gas Giant Exoplanets Predicted from Ab Initio Simulations. Burkhard Militzer, University of California, Berkeley
• Theoretical Issues for Rocky Planet Interiors Near 1.0 Earth-mass and M-R Relations. Dimitar Sasselov, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
• Planet Formation and the Diversity of Planetary Systems. Benjamin Bromley, University of Utah
• The Final Stage of Terrestrial Planet Formation. Eiichiro Kokubo, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
• Snagging an Earth-Class Exoplanetary Moon. Darren Williams, Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
• Are Hot Neptunes Partially Evaporated Hot Jupiters? Gwenael Boue, CAUP
• Transit Constraints for a General Planet Formation Theory Provided by CoRoT and Kepler. Gunther Wuchterl, Thüringer Landessternwarte, CoRoT (DLR)
• Formation and Diversity of Planetary Systems around M dwarfs: Toward the Next-Generation Observations. Yasunori Hori, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan
• Kepler Giant Planet Discoveries. Sara Seager Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• The Heavy-Element Masses of Extrasolar Giant Planets, Revealed. Jonathan Fortney, University of California, Santa Cruz
• Kepler's Dark and Reflective Worlds. Brice-Olivier Demory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Albedo Spectra of Extrasolar Giant Planets. Mark Marley, NASA Ames Research Center
• Search for Secondary Eclipses of Hot Jupiters in Kepler Q2 Light Curves. Mercedes Lopez-Morales, Inst. de Ciencies de L'Espai (CSIC-IEEC), Spain
• Asymmetric Transit Curves as Indication of Orbital Obliquity: Stars and Companion in KOI-13. Gyula Szabo, Konkoly Observatory, Hungarian Academy of Sciences
• Interpreting Geometric Albedos, Phase Curves, and Polarization of Reflected Light from Exoplanets. Nikku Madhusudhan, Princeton University
• Constraints on the True Obliquity of the Orbit of HAT-P-7b. Joshua Carter, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
• Measuring the Spin-Orbit Misalignment of KOI-13.01 from Kepler Transit Photometry Using Gravity Darkening. Jason Barnes, University of Idaho
• Clues of the Origins of Hot Jupiters. Amaury Triaud, Observatoire Astronomique de l'Université de Genève

Day 4:
• Kepler Harvest of Eclipsing Binary Stars. Andrej Prsa Villanova University
• KOI-54: A Remarkable Periastron-Pumped Pulsating Binary Star. William Welsh, San Diego State University
• Heartbeat Stars: A Class of Tidally Excited Eccentric Binaries. Susan Thompson, SETI Institute/NASA Ames Research Center
• Tests of Age, Mass, and Radius from Binary Stars in Open Clusters. Eric Sandquist, San Diego State University
• An Eclipsing White Dwarf-M Dwarf System Observed with Kepler. Roi Alonso, Observatoire Astronomique de l'Univ. de Genève, Switzerland
• Circumbinary Companions of Intermediate-Mass Eclipsing Binary Stars. Douglas Gies, Georgia State University
• Photometric Detection of Non-transiting Short-period Binaries Through the Beaming, Ellipsoidal and Reflection Effects in the Kepler Light Curves. Tsevi Mazeh, Tel Aviv University
• Dynamical Tides in Aeccentric Binaries and Tidally Excited Stellar Pulsations in Kepler KOI-54. Jim Fuller, Cornell University
• Kepler Observations of Rapid Optical Variability in Active Galactic Nuclei. Rick Edelson, University of Maryland
• Early Results from Kepler on Stellar Activity. Gibor Basri University of California, Berkeley
• The Flaring Behavior of G Stars Observed by Kepler. David Soderblom, Space Telescope Science Institute
• Starspotting: Looking at Kepler Data for Insight into Stellar Magnetic Activity. Lucianne Walkowicz Princeton University
• Spot Evolution and Differential Rotation on Sun-like Stars. Svetlana Berdyugina, KIS, Freiburg
• New Methods to Model Activity-Induced Signals in Photometry and Radial Velocity. Suzanne Aigrain, University of Oxford
• Starspots and Spin-orbit Alignment for Kepler Planetary Systems. Roberto Sanchis Ojeda, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• The Kepler Cluster Study and Stellar Rotation in Clusters. Soren Meibom Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

Day 5:
• Asteroseismology: New Insights in Variable Stars in the Classical Instability Strip. Donald Kurtz University of Central Lancashire
• The Physics of Stochastic Excitation. Peter Goldreich California Institute of Technology
• Asteroseismology of the Solar Analogs 16 Cyg A & B from Kepler Observations. Travis Metcalfe, High Altitude Observatory, NCAR
• Observational Constraints, Stellar Models, and Kepler Data for Theta Cyg, the Brightest Star Observable in the Kepler Field of View. Joyce Guzik, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Seismic Age Calibration and Heavy-element Abundance in Solar-type Stars. Guenter Houdek, Institute of Astronomy, University of Vienna
• Ensemble Asteroseismology of Solar-type Stars. Bill Chaplin University of Birmingham
• Asteroseismic Modelling of Kepler Stars. Sarbani Basu Yale University
• Long-baseline Interferometry Follow-up of Kepler Stars Using the CHARA Array.Daniel Huber, NASA Ames Research Center/ University of Sydney
• Asteroseismic Analysis of Two Sun-like Kepler Subgiants: KIC11395018 and KIC10920273. Gulnur Dogan, NCAR/High Altitude Observatory
• Asteroseismology of Red Giants. Tim Bedding School of Physics, University of Sydney
• Red Giants Unveiled. Benoit Mosser, LESIA, Observatoire de Paris
• The Intersection of Asteroseismology and Abundances. Courtney Epstein, Ohio State University
• Probing the Inner Rotation Profile of the Subgiant KIC7341231. Sebastien Deheuvels, Yale University
• Astrobiology. Carl Pilcher NASA Ames Research Center