Kepler 452B: NASA Announces Discovery Of New Earth 2.0

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Kepler 452B

NASA scientists have announced the discovery of Kepler 452B by their Kepler space telescope.  This is the first planet outside of the solar system that could be similar to Earth and capable of sustaining life.

Unlike other planets of a similar size, the newly-discovered one lies in a “habitable zone” near a sun-like star.

The discovery of what the American space agency said was the nearest thing yet to an “Earth 2.0” was based on the observations of the Kepler space telescope which has been scanning the Milky Way for Earth-like planets since 2009.

The planet described as a “bigger, older cousin” to earth has an atmosphere that could contain water and therefore presents a “substantial opportunity” for extraterrestrial life, NASA scientists said.

RT report: While looking for possibly hospitable planets outside the solar system, the Kepler telescope has recently found a planet some 1,400 light years away, NASA said in a press release on Thursday.

The planet was discovered in the constellation Cygnus and is about 60 more massive than the Earth. It’s believed to be rocky and there’s a good chance that it has liquid water on the surface – an important prerequisite for life.

“It’s great progress in finding a planet like Earth that is similar in size and temperature around a sun-like star,” Jeff Coughlin, Kepler research scientist at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, said at a news-conference, as cited by Reuters.

Kepler 452B

The research paper is to be published in The Astronomical Journal, marking the first milestone in a four-year-long work of the Kepler’s mission of finding another “Earth”.

The newly discovered Kepler-452b is one of the 4,696 so-called “planet candidates” found by the NASA astronomers. It falls among the 1,030 that have been confirmed as planets.

“On the 20th anniversary year of the discovery that proved other suns host planets, the Kepler exoplanet explorer has discovered a planet and star which most closely resemble the Earth and our Sun,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, in the press release. “This exciting result brings us one step closer to finding an Earth 2.0.”

Kepler 452B

The planet is 20 percent brighter than the Earth, its orbit is 385 days long and it is 5 percent further from its parent star than the Earth is from our sun.

“We can think of Kepler-452b as an older, bigger cousin to Earth, providing an opportunity to understand and reflect upon Earth’s evolving environment,” said Jon Jenkins, Kepler data analysis lead at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. “It’s awe-inspiring to consider that this planet has spent 6 billion years in the habitable zone of its star; longer than Earth. That’s substantial opportunity for life to arise, should all the necessary ingredients and conditions for life exist on this planet.”

Kepler 452B

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