NASA Announces Discovery of Earth-Like Planet

Scientists have identified a “close cousin” to Earth that’s orbiting a sun-like star and might harbor life. And that sunlight would be very similar to Earth’s, Jenkins said.

Batalha’s description of their research was startling. Granted, the exoplanet is located farther away from its parent star, however, the yellow dwarf shines brighter and hotter, meaning that Earth 2.0 receives similar amounts of energy from its Sunday.

As stated by the Huffington Post, the Kepler mission has another wonderful discovery, another star and a planet that is quite similar to our sun and earth.

Commenting on the new discovery, Kepler researcher Jon Jenkins announced that “Today, Earth is a little less lonely”. He led the team that discovered Kepler-452b.

“It’s awe-inspiring to consider that this planet has spent 6 billion years in the habitable zone of its star; longer than Earth”. But that faint dwarf star was unlike our Sunday.

There are also 11 other smaller earth-like planets recently discovered by NASA’s Kepler mission.

NASA said Thursday, July 23, that its Kepler spacecraft has spotted “Earth’s bigger, older cousin”: the first almost Earth-size planet to be found in the habitable zone of a star similar to our own.

The Kepler was successfully launched by NASA last 2009. It is helping to address such fundamental questions as where do we come from and where are we headed, and arguably the biggest question of all: Are we alone in the universe? As said by Jenkins, scientists are nearly certain that Kepler-452b has an atmosphere, but can not determine exactly what is it made of; it’s probable to believe however that due to a thicker atmosphere, Kepler-452b has more active volcanoes than Earth. At this rate, it would take 33,000 years before we reach the nearest star after the Sunday.

If the planet is indeed rocky, geologists believe its mass would be five times that of Earth and its gravity would be twice Earth’s.

Before the discovery of this planet, one called Kepler-186f was considered the most Earthlike, as reported by NASA. It’s just a bit farther from its star than Earth is from our Sunday.

It’s not known if it’s a rocky planet like Earth or a gas ball like Neptune, whether there is any liquid water on its surface or a surrounding atmosphere – in other words, things that would be needed for life to evolve are, at this point, just possible assumptions. And water could mean life.

Kepler 425b, for instance, is approximately 60 percent larger in radius than the planet we call home (granted, scientists are still having difficulties accurately measuring this exoplanet as it lies over 1,400 light years away).

“So pack your bags, it’s a long trip”, joked Jenkins.