Hasta La Gadget!

NASA’s Kepler telescope launched in March and is still undergoing preliminary tests, but that hasn’t stopped it from making an early discovery.

The new telescope is sensitive to light changes enough that scientists were already able to determine that a planet orbiting a distant star has an atmosphere, only shows one side to the sun, and is so hot it glows, according to CNN. That sensitivity “proves we can find Earth-size planets,” said William Borucki, Kepler’s principal science investigator, in the report.

Over the next three and a half years, Kepler will survey thousands of stars in our galaxy in an attempt to find more Earth-sized planets, and get a better sense of how common they are. (Image credit: ESO)