NASA | JPL-Caltech | Ames Research Center | Kepler | 2020 Apr 15
While the star it orbits is much smaller than our Sun, it gets about 75% of the sunlight Earth does.
A team of transatlantic scientists, using reanalyzed data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope, has discovered an Earth-size exoplanet orbiting in its star's habitable zone, the area around a star where a rocky planet could support liquid water.
Scientists discovered this planet, called Kepler-1649c, when looking through old observations from Kepler, which the agency retired in 2018. While previous searches with a computer algorithm misidentified it, researchers reviewing Kepler data took a second look at the signature and recognized it as a planet. Out of all the exoplanets found by Kepler, this distant world – located 300 light-years from Earth – is most similar to Earth in size and estimated temperature.
This newly revealed world is only 1.06 times larger than our own planet. Also, the amount of starlight it receives from its host star is 75% of the amount of light Earth receives from our Sun – meaning the exoplanet's temperature may be similar to our planet’s, as well. But unlike Earth, it orbits a red dwarf. Though none have been observed in this system, this type of star is known for stellar flare-ups that may make a planet's environment challenging for any potential life. ...
Scientists Discover Habitable-Zone Earth-Size Planet in Kepler Data
SETI Institute | 2020 Apr 15
A Habitable-Zone Earth-Sized Planet Rescued from False Positive Status ~ Andrew Vanderburg et al
- Astrophysical Journal Letters 893(1):L27 (2020 Apr 10) DOI: 10.3847/2041-8213/ab84e5
- arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:2004.06725 > 14 Apr 2020