Scientists of US space agency NASA had discovered an earth sized plan orbiting a star. The planet falls within the zone in that solar system where it's possible for liquid water to exist. The planet may also be rocky like earth. This discovery is an important step in NASA's attempts to find life outside earth.
- The planet, Kepler-452b, is about 1,400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus.
- It's about 60% bigger than Earth and is located in its star's habitable zone—the region where life-sustaining liquid water is possible on the surface of a planet.
- This new discovered planet is a bit farther from its star than Earth is from the Sun, its star is brighter, so the planet gets about the same amount of energy from its star as Earth does from the sun.
- Its sunlight would be very similar to Earth's.
- Kepler-452b's atmosphere would probably be thicker than Earth's, and it would have active volcanoes.
- It takes 385 days for the planet to orbit its star, very similar to Earth's 365-day year.
- Before the discovery of this planet, one called Kepler-186f was considered the most Earthlike.
Kepler Telescope
■ Kepler has already confirmed more than 1,000 exoplanets and 3,000 planets using something called the transit method.
■ The 0.95m-diameter telescope monitors the brightness of around 100,000 stars, looking for any dimming.
■ That dimming occurs when a planet passes behind its star in orbit.
■ Earlier in 2015, Kepler found another eight new planets in the Goldilocks zone, doubling the number of exoplanets found that have a diameter less that double Earth's.
■ The two most Earth-like planets in this new discovery were named Kepler-438b and Kepler-442b, but both were larger than Earth and orbiting red dwarf stars far cooler than our own Sun.
■ The $600 million Kepler mission launched in 2009 with a goal to survey a portion of the Milky Way for habitable planets.
■ The 0.95m-diameter telescope monitors the brightness of around 100,000 stars, looking for any dimming.
■ That dimming occurs when a planet passes behind its star in orbit.
■ Earlier in 2015, Kepler found another eight new planets in the Goldilocks zone, doubling the number of exoplanets found that have a diameter less that double Earth's.
■ The two most Earth-like planets in this new discovery were named Kepler-438b and Kepler-442b, but both were larger than Earth and orbiting red dwarf stars far cooler than our own Sun.
■ The $600 million Kepler mission launched in 2009 with a goal to survey a portion of the Milky Way for habitable planets.
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