The list of exoplanets detected by the Kepler space telescope contains bodies with a wide
variety of properties, with significant ranges in orbital distances, masses, radii, composition,
habitability, and host star type.
As of January 2015, the Kepler space telescope and its follow-up observations have detected
2,300 confirmed planets, including hot Jupiters, super-Earths, circumbinary planets, and planets
located in the circumstellar habitable zones of their host stars.
In addition, Kepler has detected over 3,601 unconfirmed planet candidates and 2,165 eclipsing
binary stars.In addition to detecting planets itself, Kepler has also uncovered the properties
of three previously known extrasolar planets.
Public Kepler data has also been used by groups independent of NASA, such as the Planet Hunters
citizen-science project, to detect several planets orbiting stars collectively known
as Kepler Objects of Interest.Kepler, launched on March 7, 2009, was designed to observe
a fixed portion of the sky in visible light and measure the light curves of the various
stars in its field of view, looking for planets crossing in front of their host stars via
the transit method.
Since the launch of the spacecraft, though, both the Kepler team at NASA and independent
researchers have found new ways of detecting planets, including the use of the transit
timing variation method and relativistic beaming.
In addition, gravitational microlensing has been proposed as a method of using Kepler
to detect compact objects, such as white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes.
Kepler has also measured the reflected light from some planets already known, discovering
planets undetectable with the transit method as well as improving knowledge of the characteristics
of planets already discovered.On February 26, 2014, NASA announced the discovery of
715 newly verified exoplanets around 305 stars by the Kepler Space Telescope.
The exoplanets were found using a statistical technique called "verification by multiplicity".
95% of the discovered exoplanets were smaller than Neptune and four, including Kepler-296f,
were less than 2 1/2 the size of Earth and were in habitable zones where surface temperatures
are suitable for liquid water.
On May 10, 2016, NASA announced that the Kepler mission has verified 1,284 new planets.
Based on some of the planet's sizes, about 550 could potentially be rocky planets.
Nine of these orbit in their stars' habitable zone.
== Table == All exoplanets discovered lie in one of the
three northern constellations of Cygnus, Lyra and Draco, which contain Kepler's photometer's
field of view.
== See also == List of exoplanets
Exoplanet Kepler-1647b