The asteroseismic potential of Kepler: First results for solar-type stars

The observations, made at one-minute cadence during the first 33.5 days of science operations, reveal high signal-to-noise solar-like oscillation spectra in all three stars: about 20 modes of oscillation may be clearly distinguished in each star. We discuss the appearance of the oscillation spectra, use the frequencies and frequency separations to provide first results on the radii, masses, and ages of the stars, and comment in the light of these results on prospects for inference on other solar-type stars that Kepler will observe.