Telescopes

What are the most commonly used telescopes for space exploration?

You've probably heard of something called the James Webb Telescope by now. If not, then you'll be intrigued  to find that this telescope has helped confirm the existence of 5,000 exoplanets! However, the main source of the data Planet Hunters used to validate the existence was derived from the Kepler Space Telescope. This telescope was launched on March 6th, 2009 and was NASA's first telescope with a mission of planet-hunting. Out of all the missions NASA has done, the Kepler space telescope was the most reliable and best planet hunter out there. It explored portions of solar systems in search of exoplanets orbiting other stars outside our Milky Way.  It monitored about 100,000 main sequence stars so since it's voyage, we have been able to discover billions of exoplanets outside our milky way which promises us the potential of extraterrestrial life! Unfortunately, the Kepler Space Telescope was put out of commission on November 15, 2018. It's replacement was the James Webb Telescope which launched three years after its death.

These two telescopes were not the only ones with the objective of searching for exoplanets, however,  the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) launched on April 18, 2018 is also used to find exoplanets. Splitting the vast sky into 26 sections, it is able to search for the brightest stars in the solar system. This telescope uses transits to find exoplanets however Kepler uses the Transit Method as well. Although these telescopes are not the only ones involved in the process of planet hunting, they have shown to be the most effective and reliable given the amount of planets discovered using these devices.