Caption: An artist's conception of the Kepler spacecraft (main mission 2009--2013, K2 mission 2013--2018) in space.
Kepler orbits the Sun (i.e., is in a heliocentric orbit) in an Earth-trailing orbit with orbital period 372.5 days and mean orbital radius (semi-major axis) 1.013 astronomical units (AUs).
Kepler started its mission near Earth, of course, and has been falling behind in angular position (as measured from the Sun) at ∼ 7 degrees per year.
The image also depicts the Sun, the Earth, the Moon (seen as a waxing crescent moon against background of the Earth), and a remote exoplanet planetary system that Kepler is studying seen as if close up in a mirage.
Credit/Permission:
NASA /
Ames Reseachr Center /
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)-Caltech,
2013
(uploaded to Wikipedia
by User:Drbogdan,
2013) /
Public domain.
Image link: Wikipedia:
File:Telescope-KeplerSpacecraft-20130103-717260main pia11824-full.jpg.
Local file: local link: kepler_spacecraft.html.
File: Planetary systems file:
kepler_spacecraft.html.