NASA’s Kepler mission on Monday confirmed the discovery of a small planet 600 light-years away from Earth in the “habitable zone” of a star not unlike our own sun. About 2.4 times the size of Earth, the newly confirmed planet — called “Kepler-22b” — is the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone, or the region where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Though scientists don’t yet know if Kepler-22b is primarily rocky, gaseous or liquid in composition, its discovery is a step closer to finding planets similar to Earth.
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NASA Spots Possible Earth 'Twin' 600 Light-Years Away
Posted by: Katherine Noyes December 5, 2011 02:51 PMNASA’s Kepler mission on Monday confirmed the discovery of a small planet 600 light-years away from Earth in the “habitable zone” of a star not unlike our own sun. About 2.4 times the size of Earth, the newly confirmed planet — called “Kepler-22b” — is the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone, or the region where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Though scientists don’t yet know if Kepler-22b is primarily rocky, gaseous or liquid in composition, its discovery is a step closer to finding planets similar to Earth.