NASA Discovers “Earth-like” planet
In the never ending quest to find other planets capable of sustaining Life, NASA announced Thursday that their ‘planet-hunting’ space-craft found Kepler-452b, a large Planet that [they believe] could be a distant “Cousin” of Earth.
The newly discovered planet is reportedly slightly larger than earth and is said to be located within the “Habitable Zone” — the area around a star where liquid could pool on the surface (Basically, an area where [they think] Life could emerge).
According to NASA’s Mission Statement for the Kepler Mission, the sole purpose of the mission is to examine many planets in our galaxy with the hope of finding “Other Worlds” that are like our Earth and potentially capable of hosting “Alien” Life.
According to NASA’s website:
“The centuries-old quest for other worlds like our Earth has been rejuvenated by the intense excitement and popular interest surrounding the discovery of hundreds of planets orbiting other stars. There is now clear evidence for substantial numbers of three types of exoplanets; gas giants, hot-super-Earths in short period orbits, and ice giants.
The challenge now is to find terrestrial planets (i.e., those one half to twice the size of the Earth), especially those in the habitable zone of their stars where liquid water might exist on the surface of the planet.”
“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, who led the team that discovered Kepler-452b.
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