In this weeks Science (April 14-20, 2014), scientists reported the existence of a far-away planet that is little bigger in size and colder in temperature, but has resemblance with earth in many other characteristics. The planet, called the Kepler-186f, was discovered by NASA's Kepler Telescope, and offers the hope for existence of life other than our own planet, according to the lead researcher Elisa Quintana of the SETI Institute and NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.
Earth's Closest Sibling Identified
A year after identifying Kepler-186f as close to a livable planet like ours, Kepler Space Telescope , which had been launched in 2009 and had identified nearly 5,000 exoplanets so far, had another success story to share with human on the earth, and this time, closest cousin of our planet, called the Kepler-452b, that's approximately same distance from its sun, Kepler-452, as our planet. NASA's Ames Research Center in California said on July 23, 2015 that
* Kepler-452b, 1,400 light-year away in a solar system, was formed about 6 billion years ago, 1.5 billion years older than earth
* Kepler-452b is 60 percent larger in diameter than earth and takes about 385 days to orbit its star, Kepler-452.
Earth's Closest Sibling Identified
A year after identifying Kepler-186f as close to a livable planet like ours, Kepler Space Telescope , which had been launched in 2009 and had identified nearly 5,000 exoplanets so far, had another success story to share with human on the earth, and this time, closest cousin of our planet, called the Kepler-452b, that's approximately same distance from its sun, Kepler-452, as our planet. NASA's Ames Research Center in California said on July 23, 2015 that
* Kepler-452b, 1,400 light-year away in a solar system, was formed about 6 billion years ago, 1.5 billion years older than earth
* Kepler-452b is 60 percent larger in diameter than earth and takes about 385 days to orbit its star, Kepler-452.
