According to NASA, the Kepler Space Telescope has discovered a planet circling a G type star, much like our own sun, that is within the habitable zone where liquid water could be present. The planet in question is two-and-a-half times the size of Earth.
What is the Kepler Space Telescope?
The Kepler is a space-based optical telescope designed to find indications of planets circling other stars. It was launched on March 7, 2009, and soon thereafter assumed a heliocentric orbit, trailing 950 miles behind Earth. In that way Earth does not block out the stars the Kepler is designed to image nor does its reflected light obscure them.
The Kepler started its search for extra-solar planets on May 12, 2009. It has discovered a huge number of such planets by noting how the light of other stars diminish when planets pass between them and the Kepler. Most of the planets thus detected have been gas giants, but there have been some worlds closer to the size and composition of Earth uncovered as well.
Where did the Kepler discover the new planet?
The star is referred to as Kepler-22, a yellow, G type star about 600 light years away from Earth. It is slightly cooler than the sun, however.
What does the planet look like?
The newly discovered planet, dubbed Kepler-22B, is orbiting its star at approximately a little less distance as Earth from the sun with an orbit of 290 days. This places it in the so-called "habitable zone" where liquid water is possibly, therefore life is possible. Kepler-22B is about 2 1/2 times the size of Earth, classifying it as a "super Earth." As of this writing it has not been determined whether the new planet is primarily rocky, liquid or gaseous.
Has the Kepler Space Telescope discovered anything else recently?
At the same conference when the new super Earth was announced, NASA officials said 1,094 new planet candidates have been discovered. 207 are approximately Earth-size, 680 are super Earth-size, like Kepler-22B. 1,181 are Neptune-size, 203 are Jupiter-size and 55 are larger than Jupiter. 48 of the planet candidates are within their stars' habitable zones.
Planet candidates will be confirmed or discarded depending on further observations by the Kepler, the Spitzer Space Telescope and ground based telescopes. Further refinements of the natures of these newly discovered planets will await the deployment of more powerful telescopes, such as the planned James Webb Space Telescope.
Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker. He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times and The Weekly Standard.
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