Artist rendering of Kepler 452b
NASA has announced today that its planet-hunting Kepler telescope has discovered Kepler 452b which is an exoplanet that exists in the “habitable zone” around a sun-like star. This marks another milestone in NASA’s journey to find another Earth, the Kepler telescope has already discovered 11 other small habitable zone candidate planets previously. Kepler 452b is the smallest planet to date that has been discovered orbiting in the habitable zone, the exoplanet is 60 percent larger than Earth.
Jon Jenkins, Kepler data analysis lead at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California says that we can think of this exoplanet as an “older, bigger cousin to Earth.” It provides NASA with the opportunity to understand and reflect upon Earth’s evolving environment.
The mass and composition of Kepler 452b have not been determined yet but previous research suggests that planets the size of Kepler 452b “have a good chance of being rocky,” according to NASA. Kepler 452 system is located 1,400 light-years away in the Cygnus constellation.
This planet has spent six billion years in the habitable zone of its star, longer than Earth. Jenkins believes that there’s “substantial opportunity” for life to arise on this planet provided all necessary conditions and ingredients are present on Kepler 452b for life to exist.
Filed in . Read more about NASA and Social Hit. Source: nasa.gov