Tag Archives: thomas barclay

NASA’s Kepler Telescope Discovers First Earth-Size Planet in ‘Habitable Zone’

By Guest PostApril 17, 2014Sciencebernd becker, capitalist family values, constellation cygnus, debat o meter, earth size planet, echtzeit, first, habitable zone, johnathan davis, kepler telescope, michael cohea, milky way galaxy, NASA, paul hertz, thomas barclay, uwe wagschal

Using NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered the first Earth-size planet orbiting a star in the “habitable zone” — the range of distance from a star where liquid water might pool on the surface of an orbiting planet. The discovery of Kepler-186f confirms that planets the size of Earth exist in the habitable zone of stars other than our sun.

While planets have previously been found in the habitable zone, they are all at least 40 percent larger in size than Earth, and understanding their makeup is challenging. Kepler-186f is more reminiscent of Earth. (more…)

NASA’s Kepler Mission Discovers Tiny Planet System

By Guest PostFebruary 22, 2013Science210 light years, ames research center, analyze, asteroseismic analysis, asteroseismology, astronomers, constellation lyra, data, earth, earth sized planets, earthquakes, geologists, habitable zone, high frequency oscillations, inhospitable worlds, interior structure, jack lissauer, kepler 37, kepler 37b, kepler 37c, kepler 37d, kepler mission, mercury, moffett field, NASA, orbiting our sun, orbiting planet, planets, rocky in composition, seismic waves, smallest planet, solar system, star, thomas barclay, tiny planet system

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s Kepler mission scientists have discovered a new planetary system that is home to the smallest planet yet found around a star similar to our sun.

The planets are located in a system called Kepler-37, about 210 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. The smallest planet, Kepler-37b, is slightly larger than our moon, measuring about one-third the size of Earth. It is smaller than Mercury, which made its detection a challenge. (more…)