The photometer's field of view in the Cygnus and Lyra constellations
Expected Results:
The Kepler Mission begins to collect data immediately after launch and checkout and begins to produce results in a progressive fashion shortly thereafter.
1. The first results come in just a few months when the giant inner planets are seen, those with orbital periods of only a few days.
2. Objects that are in Mercury-like orbits of a few months are detected within the first year.
3. Earth-size planets in Earth-like orbits require nearly the full lifetime of the four year mission, although in some cases three transits are seen in just a little more than two years.
Other results that require the full four years of data are:
4. Planets as small as Mercury in short period orbits, which utilizes the addition of a dozens or more transits to be detectable; and
5. The detection of giant-inner planets that do not transit the star but do periodically modulate the apparent brightness due to reflected light from the planet.
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