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NASA's Kepler Space Telescope has found a lot of planets outside our solar system, but now it may have tracked down a pair that are truly Earth-like.
Scientists recently verified Kepler's 1,000th planetary discovery, and there are still more to sort through. At a meeting of the American Astronomical Society on Tuesday, researchers announced 554 new candidates found by the telescope, bringing its total to 4,175.
Of those possible planets, eight are in the so-called "Goldilocks zone," or habitable zone, where the host star is at just the right distance to keep water liquid. Too close, and water heats up and boils off. Too far, and the planet is covered in permanent, solid ice.
These findings nearly double the number of known planets in the habitable zone, but researchers are especially excited about two of the new exoplanets: Their size, location, and star type means they could be rocky planets like Earth -- which means they could have evolved life as we recognize it.
The discovery doubles the number of known planets that are close in size to the Earth and believed to be in the so-called "Goldilocks zone" of the stars they orbit.
"We are now closer than we have ever been to finding a twin for the Earth around another star," said Fergal Mullally of the Kepler Science Office.
"These candidates represent the closest analogs to the Earth´s own system found to date."
The worlds were found with the help of NASA´s planet-hunting Kepler mission, a space telescope which has scoured more than 150,000 stars for planets beyond our solar system since its launch in 2009.
The latest trove of candidate planets found by Kepler and announced Tuesday was 554, bringing the total potential planets to 4,175.
Scientists have recently verified the existence of the 1,000th planet found by Kepler.
"Three of the newly validated planets are located in their distant suns´ habitable zone, the range of distances from the host star where liquid water might exist on the surface of an orbiting planet," NASA said in a statement.
"Of the three, two are likely made of rock, like Earth."
Last Update: January 6, 2015
Six NASA Kepler planets were added to the Habitable Exoplanets Catalog. One is Kepler-296 e, already confirmed in 2014, after revised properties. Kepler-438 b, Kepler-440 b, Kepler-442 b, Kepler-442 b are new confirmed planets while KOI-4427 b is still unconfirmed. Kepler-438 b and Kepler-296 e are now two of the most Earth-like planets based on insolation and size alone.
originally posted by: Annunak1
Mmmkay who wwans to build a spaceship with me and explore! 1 at a time please..
I wonder what or who is alive on those planets. Maybe its like avatar
originally posted by: JadeStar
So the search for "Avatar" is on.
originally posted by: Junkheap
originally posted by: JadeStar
So the search for "Avatar" is on.
Just to clarify, the name of the planet from "Avatar" was "Pandora", not "Avatar".
Also, Pandora was portrayed as being in the Alpha Centauri system.
originally posted by: haven123
they are real creative names they have given them...
The Process
July 2014: a list of 305 well-characterized exoplanets discovered prior to 31 December 2008, is selected for public naming by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) upon the recommendation of its Working Group Exoplanets for the Public. These exoplanets belong to 260 exoplanetary systems comprising one to five members, in addition to the host star. These systems and their host star together are here referred to as ExoWorlds. Their list is published on the NameExoWorlds.org website.
October 2014: an IAU Directory for World Astronomy website (directory.iau.org) allows astronomy clubs and non-profit organisations interested in naming these ExoWorlds to register. The IAU will have the capability to handle the registration of thousands of such groups. Registration is compulsory.
January 2015: clubs or non-profit organisations vote for the 20–30 top ExoWorlds they wish to name out of the list provided by the IAU. The actual number will depend on how many groups have registered.
February 2015: clubs or non-profit organisations send in proposals for the names of members of these selected ExoWorlds (including the host star), based on the rules in the IAU Exoplanet Naming Theme, together with a detailed supporting argument for their choice. Each group is allowed to name only one ExoWorld. More details on this stage will be given later.
April 2015: the general public votes to rank the proposed names. The IAU and Zooniverse will be ready to handle a million votes or more worldwide.
July 2015: the IAU, via its Executive Committee Working Group on the Public Naming of Planets and Planetary Satellites, oversees the final stages of the contest, and validates the winning names from the vote.
3–14 August 2015: the results are announced at a special public ceremony held during the IAU XXIX General Assembly in Honolulu, USA.
originally posted by: lovebeck
a reply to: JadeStar
I just read an article about this and came to post but I am not surprised you beat me to it!
Both sound very interesting and, for now, we can only imagine and dream about what these planets look like, what is living on them (if anything) and what they're made up of.
Hopefully in my lifetime they'll find the answer to the light year/distance and deep space exploration problems giving us mere Earthlings a chance to check these alien worlds out for real!
originally posted by: andy06shake
a reply to: JadeStar
If we are ever going to be able to actually travel to these planets it going to have to be wormhole technology considering even at several multiples the speed of light some of them are 100s and 1000s of years away.
originally posted by: glend
a reply to: andy06shake
Point taken. But if the expense wasn't prohibitive a generation might outlay the funds for a probe for the benefit of future generations.
added... what if speed of light is not a speed barrier at all but a time barrier (which might also explain why we see nothing travelling faster than light). If its possible to punch through the speed of light then time itself might reverse. If so , there might be a goldilocks speed that maintains universal time, so travelling to star 1000 LY takes 13 1/2 years for travellers and observers.