How many confirmed exoplanets have been discovered by the Kepler program as of June 2018?

The number of confirmed exoplanets discovered by the Kepler program as of June 2018 is indeed 2327. The Kepler Space Telescope was launched in 2009 with the primary mission of identifying Earth-sized planets in the habitable zones of their stars, which is the area around a star where conditions might be just right for life as we know it.

The data collected by Kepler allowed scientists to conduct numerous analyses and refine their detection methods, leading to a substantial increase in the number of confirmed exoplanets. By mid-2018, the Kepler program had confirmed over 2300 planets, greatly enhancing our understanding of planets beyond our solar system and their potential to harbor life.

This figure underscores the importance of the Kepler mission in advancing the field of exoplanet research, making it significantly higher than the other numbers presented, which do not accurately reflect the Kepler program’s discoveries at that point in time.