NASA announced the discovery of Earth-like planets – RBC

The comparative size of the Earth and the planets Kepler-452b

Photo: nasa.gov

American orbital telescope “Kepler”, created specifically for the search for extrasolar planets, discovered Earth-like planets around a star similar to the Sun, according to a statement on the website US space agency (NASA). Scientists note that the planet orbits its star in the “zone of life”, ie where the temperature and other conditions suggest the existence of living organisms.

The planet, called Kepler-452b, 60% larger than the Earth its mass and composition is unknown. Year on this planet lasts 385 days, and its orbit is 5% longer than Earth’s. Open Planet is also a 5% further from its star Kepler-452 than the Earth from the sun. The star Kepler-452, according to the calculations of scientists over the Sun 1.5 billion years, experts have estimated her age 6 billion years old; it has the same temperature as the sun, but 20% of its brighter and 10% larger in diameter.

«The 20th anniversary of the discovery, which proved the presence of planets orbiting other suns, a researcher at exoplanets” Kepler “discovered planets and stars, who are most similar to the Earth and the sun. This is an outstanding result, which makes us a step closer to finding Earth-2.0 “, – said the head of NASA science programs Gransfeld John.

The comparative sizes of star Kepler-452 system, Kepler-186 and the solar system

Photo: nasa.gov

According to the analyst NASA John Jenkins, the study Planet Kepler-452b help understand the future of the Earth and its environment. “Very impressive thought that this planet spent 6 billion years in the habitable zone of its star, larger than Earth. If the planet has all the ingredients and the conditions for life, then there is a high probability of life on this planet “- says Jenkins.

The width of the” zone of life “in the system Kepler-452 roughly corresponds to the width of the zone in the solar system. Scientists note that the open before the star system Kepler-186, this area is much smaller, since the whole system is inferior to the size of the Solar and its star is colder. The size of the system Kepler-186 is less than the orbit of Mercury in our solar system.

The star system Kepler-452 is located at a distance of 1,400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. Total assets at NASA scientists have twelve planets in diameter from half to twice the diameter of Earth, located in the “zone of life”. The total number of open after recent discoveries of extrasolar planets has risen to 1030.