Has NASA discovered another Earth?
Another success for scientists of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration a.k.a. NASA after they have found a planet like our planet Earth has a size similar to that of our planet. This discovery of new planet has again proved that the scientist are working day in and day out to find life on all other planets.
The name of the newly discovered is Kepler-452b. The planet which is discovered revolves around a star like that of our planet which revolves around the Sun. Also, it is believed that there could be a pool of liquid water on the surface as it lies in the habitable zone. The Kepler spacecraft was launched in 2009 with an aim to explore the structure and diversity of planetary systems. The Kepler’s data analysis lead at NASA’s Ames Research Centre in Moffet Field said that they thought of Kepler-452b as an older and bigger cousin to Earth, which provided them an opportunity to understand and was reflecting upon the Earth’s evolving environment. He also added that the planet has spent 6 billion years in the habitable zone of its star which is longer than that of Earth. The new planet has been named as “Earth 2.0” by the NASA’s chief John Grunsfeld and also said that the planet is “closest so far”.
The newly discovered planet is about 1400 light years away from Earth. According to NASA Kepler-452b has a 385- day orbit which only 5% longer. Moreover the planet is 5% farther from its parent star as compared to the distance between Earth and Sun and the age of the planet is 6 billion years which is 1.5 billion years older than our Sun. In addition to this the planet is 20% brighter, has the same temperature and has a diameter 10% larger.
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The hunt for a new planet similar to that of Earth in order to find life on any other planet has always been one of the major aim of all the scientists all around the world. Before the discovery of Kepler-452b Kepler-186f and Kepler-62f were also discovered which were similar to Earth and they are known as exoplanet. This good news of the discovery of Kepler-452-b came within days after the success of the New Horizon. All such achievements proves that there is a lot in this Universe about which we are unaware and hence our desire to know about these mysteries increases.
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