NASA revealed on Monday 10 new rocky, Earth-sized planets that could potentially have liquid water and support life.
The Kepler mission team released a survey of 219 potential exoplanets — planets outside of our solar system — that had been detected by the space observatory launched in 2009 to scan the Milky Way galaxy.
Ten of the new discoveries were orbiting their suns at a distance similar to the Earth’s orbit around the sun, the so-called habitable zone that could potentially have liquid water and sustain life.
Kepler has already discovered 4,034 potential exoplanets, 2,335 of which have been confirmed by other telescopes as actual planets. The 10 new Earth-size planets bring the total to 50 that exist in habitable zones around the galaxy.
The latest findings were released at the Fourth Kepler and K2 science conference being held this week at NASA’s Ames Research centre in California.
The telescope detects the presence of planets by registering minuscule drops in a star’s brightness.
The Kepler mission team released a survey of 219 potential exoplanets — planets outside of our solar system — that had been detected by the space observatory launched in 2009 to scan the Milky Way galaxy.
Ten of the new discoveries were orbiting their suns at a distance similar to the Earth’s orbit around the sun, the so-called habitable zone that could potentially have liquid water and sustain life.
Kepler has already discovered 4,034 potential exoplanets, 2,335 of which have been confirmed by other telescopes as actual planets. The 10 new Earth-size planets bring the total to 50 that exist in habitable zones around the galaxy.
The latest findings were released at the Fourth Kepler and K2 science conference being held this week at NASA’s Ames Research centre in California.
The telescope detects the presence of planets by registering minuscule drops in a star’s brightness.