What's in store?

Kepler Observations Begin (Centauri Dreams)

Expect the first discoveries to be gas giants close to their stars, easiest to spot and confirm using Kepler's transit methods. Then things get even more interesting. This is a mission that should be able to find terrestrial worlds in the ultimate sense; i.e., planets that not only approximate ours in size but are also roughly at the distance required for liquid water to exist at the surface. We still call that distance the 'habitable zone' even though it's becoming clear, as witness the case around Jupiter, that tidal forces can provide immense energies that could extend a different kind of habitable zone much farther from its star.