Goldilocks Planet
NASA scientists have discovered the first truly Earthlike planet - just the right size and temperature.
For two decades, we've been discovering planets around other stars, but compared to the Earth, they've all been too big, too heavy, too hot and too cold to support life. But scientists working on observations from the Kepler mission have now identified a planet that might be just right - just like the Earth in size and temperature. According to Dr. Jason Rowe, a Canadian research scientist with the Kepler Science office and the SETI Institute working at NASA's Ames Research Center in California, the planet orbits a star, smaller and dimmer than our Sun. But as it orbits closer to its star than we do, it has the potential to have a clement climate with liquid water on its surface. While direct observations of this planet won't be possible, its discovery suggests more Earth-like planets could soon be revealed.
Related Links
- Paper in Science
- Science news article
- CBC news
- BBC news