Kepler space telescope finds 1,091 new exoplanet candidates More and more Earth-sized planets

Exoplanet discoveries are going faster and faster...
Really exciting times!!

1,091 new transiting planet candidates have emerged from analysis of Kepler spacecraft data spanning May 2009 to September 2010, bringing the total count to 2,321 Kepler planet candidates orbiting 1,790 host stars.

A clear trend toward smaller planets at longer orbital periods is evident with each new catalog release. This suggests that Earth-size planets in the habitable zone are forthcoming if, indeed, such planets are abundant.

The largest increases in planet candidates in the current release are for the smallest ones. The cumulative catalog now contains over 200 Earth-size planet candidates and more than 900 that are smaller than twice Earth-size (super-Earths), a 197% increase (compared to a 52% increase in number of candidates larger than 2 Earth radii).



Bargraph shows 246 candidates less that 1.25 x Earth size; 676 in the range 1.25 to 2 x Earth size (Super-Earths); 1,118 in the range 2 to 6 x Earth size; 210 in the 6 to 15 x Earth size (Jupiter class); and 71 larger that 15 x Earth size (Super-Jupiters)
There is 123% increase in planet candidates with orbital periods (time taken to orbit the star) greater than of 50-days versus 85% for candidate periods less than 50-days.

Of the 46 planet candidates found in the habitable zone (where liquid water could exist), 10 are near-Earth-size. The gains in smaller size and longer period candidates are larger than expected and indicate significant improvements the Kepler data analysis software.



Source: NASA Ames

Details planet by planet can be seen here

Awesome stuff,
Looks like the chances of life as we know it/but not as we know it, looks highly likely.
Given the size of the universe, the amount of galaxies and suns,....If its possible then its probable.

Yes, chances of finding life outside our Earth have never been so high.

About the final discovery of life outside our solar system, Seth Shostak, which is the Senior Astronomer at the SETI Institute and speaking about the Allen Telescope Array, said that there's no doubt in his mind that contact with an ET intelligence will be made before 2025 and that things will go faster and faster, especially in the five last years.

I hope that I will still be there when this will occurred, anyway, in the meantime, I just sign up to the SETIlive research as I think that possibly be part of the most important discovery of the humankind is something that I surely don't want to miss.

Amazing, isn't it.

Show a badly pixelated photo from the moon, and you get hundreds of replies about "Proof - that's where the aliens are living".

Show some actual hard scientific data about where they may be, and you get no interest at all. It pretty much sums up the average intellect around here!

Back on topic...

Thanks for the update.

Personally I think Kelper is the most interesting space based observatory of them all. Even better than Hubble. I only hope that those pulling the purse strings see sense enough to fund it for at least seven years (if it still works) because I really think we'll see more and more interesting things over the long-term.

As usual the best posts don't make it to the front page.

Nice post.

Originally posted by justwokeup
As usual the best posts don't make it to the front page.

Nice post.

True buddy..I bet the universe is teaming with stupid people, just look at what we have done here, makes me want to throw up..
Anyway, nice thread. I think any planet with an atmostphere in the 'goldilocks' zone would harbour some form of life and hopefully it's not Human in nature..Cheers

Originally posted by elevenaugust
Yes, chances of finding life outside our Earth have never been so high.

About the final discovery of life outside our solar system, Seth Shostak, which is the Senior Astronomer at the SETI Institute and speaking about the Allen Telescope Array, said that there's no doubt in his mind that contact with an ET intelligence will be made before 2025 and that things will go faster and faster, especially in the five last years.

I hope that I will still be there when this will occurred, anyway, in the meantime, I just sign up to the SETIlive research as I think that possibly be part of the most important discovery of the humankind is something that I surely don't want to miss.

Why does this picture look like an outline of a DNA strand? That is the first thing that popped up in my head....

Anyone else see it or am I just seeing things?