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First Habitable-Zone super-Earth Discovered in Orbit Around a Sun-like Star

By Guest PostMarch 12, 2012Sciencealan boss, ames research center, constellation, cygnus, discovery, doppler technique, exoplanet, g5 star, Galaxy, gas giant planets, habitable zone, kepler mission, lyra, NASA, photometric data, radial velocity, space telescope, star, sun, super earth, william borucki

Washington, D.C. — NASA’s Kepler Mission has discovered the first super-Earth orbiting in the habitable zone of a star similar to the Sun. A team of researchers, including Carnegie’s Alan Boss, has discovered what could be a large, rocky planet with a surface temperature of about 72 degrees Fahrenheit, comparable to a comfortable spring day on Earth. This landmark finding will be published in The Astrophysical Journal.

The discovery team, led by William Borucki of the NASA Ames Research Center, used photometric data from the NASA Kepler space telescope, which monitors the brightness of 155,000 stars. Earth-size planets whose orbital planes are aligned such that they periodically pass in front of their stars result in tiny dimmings of their host star’s light–dimmings that can only be measured by a highly specialized space telescope like Kepler. (more…)

NASA’s Kepler Confirms Its First Planet in Habitable Zone

By Guest PostDecember 6, 2011Scienceames, constellations, cygnus, douglas hudgins, g type, ground based telescopes, habitable zone, jupiter, kepler, kepler 22b, liquid water, lyra, mars, milestone, NASA, natalie batalha, orbital periods, planet, spitzer space telescope, super earth size, universe, university of colorado in boulder, venus, william borucki

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s Kepler mission has confirmed its first planet in the “habitable zone,” the region around a star where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Kepler also has discovered more than 1,000 new planet candidates, nearly doubling its previously known count. Ten of these candidates are near-Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of their host star. Candidates require follow-up observations to verify they are actual planets.

The newly confirmed planet, Kepler-22b, is the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a star similar to our sun. The planet is about 2.4 times the radius of Earth. Scientists don’t yet know if Kepler-22b has a predominantly rocky, gaseous or liquid composition, but its discovery is a step closer to finding Earth-like planets. (more…)

Earth-Size Planet Candidates Found in Habitable Zone

By Guest PostFebruary 3, 2011Scienceames research center, charles bolden, constellations, cygnus, earth size planet, extraterrestrial planets, Galaxy, habitable zone, jack lissauer, kepler, kepler 11, kepler 11b, kepler mission, liquid water, lyra, moffett field, NASA, science fiction, space telescope, star, william borucki

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s Kepler mission has discovered its first Earth-size planet candidates and its first candidates in the habitable zone, a region where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Five of the potential planets are near Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of smaller, cooler stars than our sun.

Candidates require follow-up observations to verify they are actual planets. Kepler also found six confirmed planets orbiting a sun-like star, Kepler-11. This is the largest group of transiting planets orbiting a single star yet discovered outside our solar system. (more…)

Citizen Scientists Join Search for Earth-like Planets

By Guest PostDecember 19, 2010Scienceastronomers, citizen science project, constellation, cygnus, debra fischer, dimming of light, earth, earth like planets, exoplanets, galaxy zoo, galaxy zoo project, global network, globe, human computing power, jupiter, kepler mission, kevin schawinski, large gas giants, meg schwamb, NASA, planet candidates, planet hunters, solar system, space telescope, sun, web users, yale astronomer, zooniverse

Web users around the globe will be able to help professional astronomers in their search for Earth-like planets thanks to a new online citizen science project called Planet Hunters that launched Dec. 16. at www.planethunters.org.

Planet Hunters, which is the latest in the Zooniverse citizen science project collection, will ask users to help analyze data taken by NASA’s Kepler mission. The space telescope has been searching for planets beyond our own solar system—called exoplanets—since its launch in March 2009. (more…)

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First Habitable-Zone super-Earth Discovered in Orbit Around a Sun-like Star

NASA’s Kepler Confirms Its First Planet in Habitable Zone

Earth-Size Planet Candidates Found in Habitable Zone

Citizen Scientists Join Search for Earth-like Planets