For the first time, astronomers using NASA’S Kepler telescope has confirmed about Earth-size planet orbiting Sun-like Star in the zone called “Goldilocks” in which water can exist in liquid form on the surface and conditions can be beneficial to life as known on Earth.
Along with extra solar planet-confirmed, one of 28 found so far by Kepler, researchers today also announced the discovery of new exoplanets, 1,094 candidates pushed total spacecraft so far to 2,326, including 10 world Earth-sized candidate orbiting in the habi zones of their parent star.
Additional observations are needed to tell if a candidate is, in fact, the real world. But astronomers say a planet known as orbiting the star about 600 light-years away from Earth, Kepler-22b is the real thing.
“Today I have the right to announce the discovery of the planet Kepler first in the habi zone of Sun-like stars, Kepler-22b,” Bill Borucki, Kepler is the principal investigator at NASA Ames Research Center, told reporters. “It is 2.4 times the size of the Earth, in orbit period (or year) 290 days, slightly shorter than the Earth, a little closer to the star than Earth to the Sun, 15 percent more closely.
“But the star dimmed a little, a little more low-temperature, slightly smaller. That means that the planets, Kepler-22b, have somewhat similar to the temperature of the Earth …If greenhouse warming similarly on the planet, the surface temperature would be something like 72 Fahrenheit, the temperature is so much fun here on Earth. “