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Nasa’s Kepler space telescope finds possible 'new Earth'
Nasa’s Kepler space telescope has found its first planet outside our solar system which could become a home to humans.
could become a home to humans.
Image 1 of 2
Kepler is searching for planets as small as Earth, including those orbiting stars in a warm, habitable zone where liquid water could exist on the surface of the planet Photo: AP
Kepler 22b is the right distance from its star to have water, has a suitable temperature and contains the right atmosphere to potentially support life.
Earlier this year, French astronomers found the first planet, a different one, which met the crucial requirements for potential human settlement
However, Kepler 22b, which was first seen in 2009, is the first the US space agency has been able to confirm as a potential new home for mankind.
Confirmation means that astronomers have seen it crossing in front of its star three times.
However, it does not signify that astronomers know whether life actually exists there, simply that the conditions are right.
Bill Borucki, Kepler principal investigator at NASA Ames Research Center, said: “We have now got good planet confirmation with Kepler 22b.
“We are certain that it is in the habitable zone and if it has a surface it ought to have a nice temperature.â€
Spinning around its star some 600 light years away, Kepler 22b is 2.4 times the size of the Earth and orbits its sun-like star every 290 days.
Scientists do not know, however, if the planet is rocky, gaseous or liquid.
The planet's first “transitâ€, or star crossover, was captured shortly after NASA launched its Kepler spacecraft in March 2009.
NASA also announced that Kepler has uncovered 1,000 more potential planets, twice the number it previously had been tracking, according to research being presented at a conference in California this week.
Kepler is NASA's first mission in search of Earth-like planets orbiting suns similar to ours.
It is equipped with the largest camera ever sent into space - a 95-megapixel array of charge-coupled devices - and is expected to continue sending information back to Earth until at least November 2012.
Kepler is searching for planets as small as Earth, including those orbiting stars in a warm, habitable zone where liquid water could exist on the surface of the planet.
The latest confirmed exoplanet – one outside Earth’s solar system - that could support life brings to three the total number confirmed by global astronomers.
In addition to French astronomers' confirmed finding of Gliese 581d in May, Swiss astronomers reported in August that another planet, HD 85512b, about 36 light years away seemed to be in the habitable zone of its star.
According to an online catalog that indexes bodies outside our solar system by the Planetary Habitability Laboratory (PHL) of the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo, a total of 47 exoplanets and exomoons are potential habitable candidates
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...space-telescope-finds-possible-new-Earth.html
Nasa’s Kepler space telescope has found its first planet outside our solar system which could become a home to humans.
could become a home to humans.
Kepler is searching for planets as small as Earth, including those orbiting stars in a warm, habitable zone where liquid water could exist on the surface of the planet Photo: AP
Kepler 22b is the right distance from its star to have water, has a suitable temperature and contains the right atmosphere to potentially support life.
Earlier this year, French astronomers found the first planet, a different one, which met the crucial requirements for potential human settlement
However, Kepler 22b, which was first seen in 2009, is the first the US space agency has been able to confirm as a potential new home for mankind.
Confirmation means that astronomers have seen it crossing in front of its star three times.
However, it does not signify that astronomers know whether life actually exists there, simply that the conditions are right.
Bill Borucki, Kepler principal investigator at NASA Ames Research Center, said: “We have now got good planet confirmation with Kepler 22b.
“We are certain that it is in the habitable zone and if it has a surface it ought to have a nice temperature.â€
Spinning around its star some 600 light years away, Kepler 22b is 2.4 times the size of the Earth and orbits its sun-like star every 290 days.
Scientists do not know, however, if the planet is rocky, gaseous or liquid.
The planet's first “transitâ€, or star crossover, was captured shortly after NASA launched its Kepler spacecraft in March 2009.
NASA also announced that Kepler has uncovered 1,000 more potential planets, twice the number it previously had been tracking, according to research being presented at a conference in California this week.
Kepler is NASA's first mission in search of Earth-like planets orbiting suns similar to ours.
It is equipped with the largest camera ever sent into space - a 95-megapixel array of charge-coupled devices - and is expected to continue sending information back to Earth until at least November 2012.
Kepler is searching for planets as small as Earth, including those orbiting stars in a warm, habitable zone where liquid water could exist on the surface of the planet.
The latest confirmed exoplanet – one outside Earth’s solar system - that could support life brings to three the total number confirmed by global astronomers.
In addition to French astronomers' confirmed finding of Gliese 581d in May, Swiss astronomers reported in August that another planet, HD 85512b, about 36 light years away seemed to be in the habitable zone of its star.
According to an online catalog that indexes bodies outside our solar system by the Planetary Habitability Laboratory (PHL) of the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo, a total of 47 exoplanets and exomoons are potential habitable candidates
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/...space-telescope-finds-possible-new-Earth.html
inShare2http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/8937102/Nasas-Kepler-space-telescope-finds-possible-new-Earth.html
