News in Brief Astronomy

Revived Kepler telescope finds first exoplanet

Crippled spacecraft turns up new worlds while balancing on sunlight

Kepler telescope

SECOND LIFE  The revived Kepler telescope, shown in this artist’s illustration, will stare at a different patch of sky every 80 days while using sunlight to stay balanced.

T. Pyle, JPL-Caltech, NASA Ames

By Christopher Crockett

- More than 2 years ago

The Kepler space telescope has bagged its first confirmed planet since being benched in the summer of 2013 by a broken part used to steady the spacecraft (SN: 9/21/13, p.