The NASA Kepler planet-hunting telescope has successfully transmitted its first images back to program directors on Earth, as the U.S. space agency continues to hunt for Earth-like planets.

"Kepler's first glimpse of the sky is awe-inspiring," Kepler program executive Liia LaPiana said in a statement.  "To be able to see millions of stars in a single snapshot is simply breathtaking."

One of the images shows a 100-square-degree portion of space that has more than 14 million stars and at least 100,000 different ones that could be selected for further evaluation.  An Earth-like planet is described as small, rocky bodies that orbit stars similar to the sun, with temperatures and climates that can support water in oceans, lakes and rivers.

Kepler uses a 95-megapixel camera -- the most powerful camera ever launched aboard a satellite -- to help astronomers add to the 300 extrasolar planets already discovered.  Kepler will specifically target the Milky Way galaxy, and try to determine if Earth-like planets in the habitable zone are frequent or rare.

Its range is relatively small, but all collected results will allow astronomers to have accurate estimates of earth-sized planets located in the Earth's galaxy.

The Kepler mission is "poised to contribute to a new age of astronomy for NASA and scientists around the world," NASA contractor Ball Aerospace & Technologies said in a statement.  

The $600 million Kepler mission originally launched last month and is scheduled to be in deployment for at least 3 1/2 years, though NASA hopes to keep it operating even longer.  Researchers plan to adjust the scientific instruments on Kepler in the next couple of weeks, and then will begin searching for new Earth-like bodies.