ARC: Kepler Discovers Bigger, Older Cousin to Earth

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ARC: Kepler Discovers Bigger, Older Cousin to Earth

Post by bystander » Sat Jul 25, 2015 12:00 am

Kepler Mission Discovers Bigger, Older Cousin to Earth
NASA | Ames Research Center | Kepler | 2015 July 23
NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed the first near-Earth-size planet in the “habitable zone” around a sun-like star. This discovery and the introduction of 11 other new small habitable zone candidate planets mark another milestone in the journey to finding another “Earth.”

The newly discovered Kepler-452b is the smallest planet to date discovered orbiting in the habitable zone -- the area around a star where liquid water could pool on the surface of an orbiting planet -- of a G2-type star, like our sun. The confirmation of Kepler-452b brings the total number of confirmed planets to 1,030.

"On the 20th anniversary year of the discovery that proved other suns host planets, the Kepler exoplanet explorer has discovered a planet and star which most closely resemble the Earth and our Sun," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “This exciting result brings us one step closer to finding an Earth 2.0."

Kepler-452b is 60 percent larger in diameter than Earth and is considered a super-Earth-size planet. While its mass and composition are not yet determined, previous research suggests that planets the size of Kepler-452b have a good chance of being rocky.

While Kepler-452b is larger than Earth, its 385-day orbit is only 5 percent longer. The planet is 5 percent farther from its parent star Kepler-452 than Earth is from the Sun. Kepler-452 is 6 billion years old, 1.5 billion years older than our sun, has the same temperature, and is 20 percent brighter and has a diameter 10 percent larger. ...

Texas Astronomers Help Find Earth’s Older, Bigger Cousin
McDonald Observatory | University of Texas, Austin | 2015 July 23

New Kepler Exoplanet Catalog Includes Earth-Size World Around Solar Cousin
SETI Institute | 2015 July 23

Astronomers Discover Earth's Bigger Cousin
University of Sydney, Australia | 2015 July 24

Discovery and Validation of Kepler-452b: A 1.6 R⨁ Super Earth Exoplanet in the Habitable Zone of a G2 Star - Jon M. Jenkins et al
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