NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler Telescope has discovered thousands of exotic new worlds far beyond our solar system. Are any of them like Earth? And what sort of life could flourish on them?
With vivid animation and input from expert astrophysicists and astrobiologists, NOVA takes you on a mind-bending exploration of these strange worlds and the possible creatures we might one day encounter there.
Watch NOVA: Alien Planets Revealed, January 8 at 9:00 p.m. on WCVE PBS/WHTJ PBS.
It’s a golden age for planet hunters: NASA’s Kepler mission has identified more than 3,500 potential planets orbiting stars beyond our Sun. Some of them, like a planet called Kepler-22b, might even be able to harbor life. How did we come upon this distant planet? How does the Kepler Telescope look for planets? Will any of these planets be suitable for life as we know it? Bringing the creative power of veteran animators together with the latest discoveries in planet-hunting, “Alien Planets Revealed” shows the successes of the Kepler mission, taking us to planets beyond our solar system and providing a glimpse of creatures we might one day encounter.