Huffington Post - Lee Speigel, 7/25/13
Artist's concept of a planet passing in front of a distant sun is an example of how the Kepler space telescope (illustrated in the lower left) is able to detect exoplanets. As the planet passes in front of the star, it causes a dimming of the star light, indicating to scientists that there's a planet there. Note: Kepler doesn't actually get this close to any stars, making its planet detection process even more remarkable.
The University of California at Berkeley astronomer is an official NASA investigator assigned to the Kepler mission and credited with confirming almost three-quarters of the first 100 exoplanets -- planets outside our solar system -- found by Kepler, as reported in Open Minds.TV.
Marcy, pictured below, is absolutely convinced Earth is part of a galactic neighborhood teeming with intelligent life.
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