Finally, A Planet That Looks More Like Earth Found by NASA

by Benson Agoha | Space Science

The search for a similar planet to our earth may just have been found according breaking news by NASA.

This artist's concept compares Earth (left) to the new planet, called Kepler-452b,

which is about 60 percent larger in diameter. Credits: via NASA

Fox News told Woolwich Online that NASA has just announced the discovery of an Earth-like planet, orbiting in a 'habitable zone' around a star similar to the Sun.

In an update, NASA said the newly found planet is Earth’s bigger, older cousin, found very distant from earth bu shares similar features. It was found by NASA Kepler Mission which confirmed the first near-Earth-Size planet in the "habitable zone" and around a sun-like star.

Identified simply as Kepler-452b, NASA said The discovery and the introduction of 11 other new small habitable zone candidate planets mark another milestone in the journey to finding another “Earth.”

And it is the smallest planet to date, according to NASA that was discovered orbiting in the habitable zone, the area around a star where liquid water could pool on the surface of an orbiting planet. And it has a "G2-type star", like our sun.

In a statement, NASA, John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington said "On the 20th anniversary year of the discovery that proved other suns host planets, the Kepler exoplanet explorer has discovered a planet and star which most closely resemble the Earth and our Sun," adding “This exciting result brings us one step closer to finding an Earth 2.0."

Kepler-452b and its blazing star (sun).(Credit: via NASA.)

The new discovery is 60 percent larger in diameter than Earth and is considered a super-Earth-size planet, NASA said. However, its mass and composition are not yet determined, although previous research suggests that planets the size of Kepler-452b have a good chance of being rocky, the statement said.

Important attributes:

* And while earth is 365 days, the new planet is 385 - just 5% longer than earth.

* The planet is also 5 percent farther from its parent star Kepler-452 than Earth is from the Sun.

* Kepler-452 (its sun) is 6 billion years old, 1.5 billion years older than our sun, has the same temperature, and is 20 percent brighter and has a diameter 10 percent larger.

“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 adding "It’s awe-inspiring to consider that this planet has spent 6 billion years in the habitable zone of its star; longer than Earth. That’s substantial opportunity for life to arise, should all the necessary ingredients and conditions for life exist on this planet.”

The confirmation of Kepler-452b brings the total number of confirmed planets to 1,030.

Found Earths: A newly discovered exoplanet, Kepler-452b, comes the
closest of any found so far to matching our Earth-sun system.
This artist’s conception of a planetary lineup shows habitable-zone planets
with similarities to Earth: from left, Kepler-22b, Kepler-69c,
the just announced Kepler-452b, Kepler-62f and Kepler-186f.
Last in line is Earth itself.
Credits: via NASA

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* by Benson Agoha (with Lead by Fox News | Story and Photo Source: via NASA)