A little bleary-eyed this morning, having stayed up to watch the Kepler launch on NASA TV.

Kepler’s mission is to locate rocky earth-sized planets around other stars.  The satellite carries an instrument called a photometer, or light meter, that measures the very small changes in a star’s brightness that occur when an orbiting planet passes in front of it.

The real interest is in worlds that orbit in a ‘habitable zone,’ not too near and not too far from their star, where liquid water, and possibly life, could exist.

The build-up to Kepler has prompted much discussion around the possibility of extra-terrestrial life.  A couple of weeks back I joined ‘The Search for Life Beyond Earth‘  at the Royal Institution.  Last night, via a live feed into Second Life from Chicago’s Adler Planetarium, I joined Scott Gaudi of Ohio State University on a ‘Quest for our Origins – The Search for Other Worlds and Life in The Universe,’ including a review of the latest techniques for remotely identifying earth-like planets.

The technical quality of this event was excellent, with live streaming video, multi-screen slides, and sound.

There is another event tonight at 10 a.m Pacific Time (6 pm UK), about the early universe and the cosmic microwave background.  Just time for you to sign up; see you there (SL name Erasmus Magic).

Here are some photos from last night: