Source: Xinhua

03-09-2009 11:21

LOS ANGELES, Mar. 7 (Xinhua) -- Kepler, a telescope that will scour the Milky Way for evidence of Earth-like planets, is orbiting the sun on Saturday, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

A Delta rocket carrying the Kepler telescope  takes off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force  Station in Florida March 6, 2009. NASA launched the pioneering Kepler telescope on Friday to  survey a corner of the galaxy in hopes of learning if other planets like Earth exist.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Aboard a three-stage Delta 2 rocket, the Kepler telescope blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida about 7:50 p.m. Friday and successfully reached its orbit about an hour later.

When fully operational in a couple of months, the craft will embark on a 3 1/2-year mission, during which it will scan more than 100,000 stars, looking for winks in the light emanating from them -- a telltale sign of a planet passing in front of the light source. said JPL which monitors the mission.

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