Interview with the author

Jason Steffen

How important was Kepler? It was central to our current understanding of distant planetary systems. Before Kepler, we knew primarily about ‘hot Jupiters’: large planets on short orbital periods. We had a few long-period giant planets in our catalogues and about half a dozen Neptune-sized planets. Kepler opened the floodgates. Moreover, it moved us past the initial frenzy of discoveries, where we were focused on individual systems, to a more systematic investigation where we could make population-wide statements about exoplanets. What future missions are you excited about? I’m looking forward to the Plato mission from ESA. That will reveal a lot of new planetary systems that we can study and is similar to Kepler in what it will find. The Nancy Grace Roman telescope from NASA will be able to…

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BBC Sky at Night United Kingdom (Digital) - 1 Issue, April 2025

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