An Earth-like Planet Discovery

NASA has announced the discovery of an earth-like planet orbiting a sun-like star, which is 10% brighter and older at almost the same distance as our Earth orbits the Sun! This announcement was made yesterday afternoon in America, which translates to nighttime here in Nepal. The planet is christened Kepler-452b and was discovered by the Kepler spacecraft (evident from the name).

Kepler was launched in 2009 for the sole purpose of expanding our know-how about exoplanets. It has not failed us; 2000+ new exoplanets have been discovered by the spacecraft, many awaiting confirmation. This recent one might be the one which we have been waiting for: the Planet that harbors life.

The planet is 60% more bigger than the Earth, yet it orbits around its Sun-like star in the habitable zone. Scientists say its almost certain that the planet has an atmosphere and might also have a rocky surface, though this has not been confirmed. The planet is a bit farther from its star than the Earth, but receives the same amount of energy as the Earth does from the Sun due to it’s parent star being more brighter than the Sun. If a person were to stand on this planet, he/she would experience twice as much gravity as the Earth! The planet also has an eerily familiar revolution period of 385 days!

This might possibly be a monumental discovery. This planet is one of the first ones which NASA has found orbiting around the habitable zone of its star, and is perhaps Earth-like. As more data comes in, we might get bigger clues as to whether this planet is habitable or not.