Kepler-7

Kepler-7 is a star located in the constellation Lyra in the field of view of the Kepler Mission, a NASA operation in search of Earth-like planets. It is home to the fourth of the first five planets that Kepler discovered; this planet, a Jupiter-size gas giant named Kepler-7b, is as light as styrofoam. The star itself is more massive than the Sun, and is nearly twice the Sun's radius. It is also slightly metal-rich, a major factor in the formation of planetary systems. Kepler-7's planet was presented on January 4, 2010 at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

==Nomenclature and discovery== Kepler-7 received its name because it was the home to the seventh planetary system discovered by the NASA-led Kepler Mission, a project aimed at detecting terrestrial planets that transit, or pass in front of, their host stars as seen from Earth. The planet orbiting Kepler-7 was the fourth planet to be discovered by the Kepler spacecraft; the first three planets combed from Kepler's data had been previously discovered, and were used to verify the accuracy of Kepler's measurements. Kepler-7b was announced to the public on January 4, 2010 at the 215th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, D.C. along with Kepler-4b, Kepler-5b, Kepler-6b, and Kepler-8b. Kepler-7b was noted for its unusually and extremely low density.