It's time to say goodbye to the Kepler Spacecraft/telescope

9 years down the line and this Spacecraft has accomplished much, but now it is running out of fuel.

By NASA/JPL-Caltech/Wendy Stenzel - http://kepler.nasa.gov/multimedia/artwork/artistsconcepts/?ImageID=23 (image link), Public Domain, Link

At 94 million miles away there is no chance of it getting a refuel. Yesterday it managed to download its last observation packets data from campaign 19. Is was not clear that this would be possible given its low fuel status.

Campaign 19, started on August 29 after the spacecraft’s configuration had been modified in order to adapt to a change in thruster performance. Over the following 27 days, Kepler observed more than 30,000 stars and galaxies in the constellation of Aquarius. The stars included dozens of known and suspected exoplanet systems — including the well-known TRAPPIST-1 system with its seven Earth-sized planets.

Its ability was compromised during this campaign and perhaps there may be some surprises in this package of data.

Launched in March 2009, NASA’s first planet-hunter has confirmed more than 2,600 planets beyond the solar system.

and...

A recent notable find is Wolf 503b, a nearby super-Earth-size planet orbiting a bright star. At approximately twice the size of Earth, Wolf 503b is representative of the most common size of planet Kepler found in the galaxy. However, since there are no planets this size in our own solar system, we have a lot left to learn about planets this size. Since Wolf 503b is nearby and orbits a bright star, it is particularly well suited for subsequent observations with other telescopes that promise to help unravel the mysteries of what planets this size are like.

You can read up lots more about this survivor of a spacecraft and its telescopic discoveries over the last nine years here