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NASA planet hunter blasts into night sky
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-07 14:53

CAPE CANAVERAL – NASA's planet-hunting spacecraft, Kepler, has blasted off aboard a rocket from Cape Canaveral.

NASA launches the Kepler space telescope atop a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a three year mission to search for Earth-like planets in the Milky Way galaxy, March 6, 2009. [Agencies]

The Kepler telescope rocketed into the night sky late Friday on a historic voyage to track down other Earths in a faraway patch of the Milky Way galaxy. The US$600 million mission will last at least three-and-a-half years.

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Once it's settled into an orbit around the sun, Kepler will stare nonstop at 100,000 stars. The telescope will watch for any dimming, or winks, in the stellar brightness that might be caused by orbiting planets. It's the first NASA mission capable of detecting Earth-size planets around stars like our sun.

Kepler is named after the German 17th-century astrophysicist.

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