NASA has announced that its Kepler spacecraft has spotted “Earth’s bigger, older cousin”: the first nearly Earth-size planet to be found in the habitable zone of a star similar to our own. The planet, Kepler-452b, is about 1,400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. It’s about 60% bigger than Earth. Researchers 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.
Additional Facts
- Before the discovery of this planet, one called Kepler-186f was considered the most Earth like.
- The $600 million Kepler mission launched in 2009 with a goal to survey a portion of the Milky Way for habitable planets.
- Kepler has discovered more than 1,000 planets.
- In 2016, NASA plans to send James Webb Space Telescope. It will provide astonishing insights into other worlds, including their color, seasonal differences, weather and even the potential presence of vegetation.
- In 2017, NASA plans to launch a planet-hunting satellite called TESS that will be able to provide scientists with more detail on the size, mass and atmospheres of planets circling distant stars.
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