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NASA’s Kepler Discovers 461 New Planet Candidates

By Guest PostJanuary 11, 2013Science461 new planet, ames research center, candidate, christopher burke, discovery, earth size, exoplanet archive, habitable zone, institute, jack lissauer, kepler catalog, kepler data, kepler mission, liquid water, masquerade, moffett field, mountain view, multi planet system, NASA, orbit, orbital period, planet, planetary candidates, potential planet, seti, size of earth, spacecraft instrumentation, steve howell, surface

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA’s Kepler mission Monday announced the discovery of 461 new planet candidates. Four of the potential new planets are less than twice the size of Earth and orbit in their sun’s “habitable zone,” the region in the planetary system where liquid water might exist on the surface of a planet.

Based on observations conducted from May 2009 to March 2011, the findings show a steady increase in the number of smaller-size planet candidates and the number of stars with more than one candidate. (more…)

Potentially Habitable Planet Discovered

Washington, D.C. Astronomers have found a new, potentially habitable Earth-sized planet. It is one of two new planets discovered around the star Gliese 581, some 20 light years away. The planet, Gliese 581g, is located in a “habitable zone”—a distance from the star where the planet receives just the right amount of stellar energy to maintain liquid water at or near the planet’s surface. The 11- year study, published in the Astrophysical Journal and posted online at arXiv.org, suggests that the fraction of stars in the Milky Way harboring potentially habitable planets could be greater than previously thought—as much as a few tens of percent. (more…)

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NASA’s Kepler Discovers 461 New Planet Candidates

Potentially Habitable Planet Discovered