Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. Indeed, the formation of planets seems to be a broader and more varied phenomenon than previously imagined. One possible approach to this daunting observational problem is to regularly monitor the light from many solar-type stars, searching for the slight decrease in brightness which signals the transit of a small planet in front of the stellar disk. A proposal for a space-based instrument to engage in such a program, the Kepler Mission , is illustrated above. In this concept , the monitoring space telescope orbits the Sun, slowly drifting away from Earth.
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