Johannes Kepler: One of Newton's Giants?

First, allow me to extend a warm welcome to the 3,500+ astronomers, astronomy buffs, writers, friends, and family now in Washington, D.C., for the 215th meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

Welcome to my home town, and thanks for bringing the meeting to me for a change!

—Image courtesy NASA

Day One of the conference brings the news that five more extrasolar planets—or exoplanets—have been added to the roster of known worlds, thanks to NASA's Kepler space telescope.

With the addition of last fall's 32 newbies, the Kepler find brings the official known exoplanet count to 420.

Exoplanet aficionados might say, So what? The new worlds aren't really all that special, considering that they seem remarkably similar to the hundreds that have already been found.

Like most of the known exoplanets, they're big—from Neptune's size to larger than Jupiter—and they're hot. That means the chances of setting up the first human colony on any of them are pretty much nil.

What's exciting is that the find shows NASA's nearly $600-million Kepler spacecraft is working perfectly, spotting planets in unprecedented detail.

And that means Kepler has every chance of achieving its main goal: being the first mission to find a ...