White dwarfs are the slowly cooling cores of sunlike stars in which nuclear fusion has stopped. (sciencemag.org)
Kepler launched in March to seek out worlds like our own — terrestrial planets orbiting sunlike stars at a temperate distance where liquid water could persist. (scientificamerican.com)
It will revolutionize our knowledge of rocky planets and will enable the first directed search for life around sunlike stars in the next decade,» says Don Pollacco of the University of Warwick, who will lead the U.K. effort. (sciencemag.org)