News from Exteme Solar Systems II.

Hello Planet Hunters!  Grad student John Brewer is attending an exoplanet meeting this week in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where there have been several exciting new announcements.  Of particular interest to planethunters.org, the Kepler team announced an astounding number of new planet candidates, and more than doubled the number of candidates in the habitable zone.  The list of 1235 planet candidates announced in February has grown to 1781 with 121 now in the habitable zone.  The number of earth-sized planet candidates increased by 95%!

The release date of the new candidate list is not yet set, but there is a bonus coming our way.  The Kepler team will be releasing the Q3 data on September 23, (six months early) and are moving up the Q4 release to January!  You will soon be swimming in new light curves.  One reason for the early release is the high demand for more data.  Congratulations, and thanks for all of your hard work.

John M. Brewer