NASA's planet hunting spacecraft, Kepler, has found more planets, to include the smallest planets to date to be found in the "habitable zone" (HZ). The HZ is the area of space around a star that the temperatures on the planet should be able to sustain liquid water - a known precursor for life as we know it.
At the press conference held yesterday, April 18th, mission scientists discussed the latest finds of Kepler which now pushes its total of discovered exoplanets to 122 with no end in sight. Kepler has identified 2,740 possible exoplanet candidates.
In the two new systems rocky planets were found in the HZ, and Kepler 69's star is very similar to our own Sun.
It is not known if any of these planets in the HZ can support life.
It is only a matter of time until Kepler finds an Earth-like planet in the HZ. Then the speculation about life on another planet can begin in earnest.
Read More About It: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/18apr_habitablezone/
Sky Guy in VA
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