Kepler Telescope: Finally Doing The Right Thing

Heard about this on the awesome Bill Maher show, and it's unbelievable:

Kepler Telescope

After all the cash spent in assorted douchebaggery, mankind takes a step in the right direction. Perhaps the number of people "into crazy" is going down.

"Kepler Mission Scientific Objective:

The scientific objective of the Kepler Mission is to explore the structure and diversity of planetary systems. This is achieved by surveying a large sample of stars to:

1. Determine the abundance of terrestrial and larger planets in or near the habitable zone of a wide variety of stars;
2. Determine the distribution of sizes and shapes of the orbits of these planets;
3. Estimate how many planets there are in multiple-star systems;
4. Determine the variety of orbit sizes and planet reflectivities, sizes, masses and densities of short-period giant planets;
5. Identify additional members of each discovered planetary system using other techniques; and
6. Determine the properties of those stars that harbor planetary systems"

Science one, idiotism zero (it's still way ahead, but we're getting there).

Stay intelligent!