(Newswire.net — January 27, 2015) — Nearby solar system has similar planets orbiting the sun, just like in our solar system. One planet orbiting close but no too close to the sun just as Earth, could have the same atmosphere and life as on Earth, NASA scientists said. The Earth-sized planet recently discovered by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, named Kepler 186f, is approximately 500 light-years from us.
“Kepler 186 is the first Earth-size planet in the habitable zone of the star,” said NASA research scientist Elisa Quintana. She said the sun Kepler 186 is smaller and cooler than our sun. “This planet orbits its star in 130 days, and its place is in the habitable zone. It’s in the region where it could have good water on the surface,” she said.
The habitable zone, also known as the Goldilocks zone, is the region around a star within which planetary-mass objects with sufficient atmospheric pressure can support liquid water at their surfaces. It has been estimated that there are at least 40 billion Earth-sized planets in solar systems in our Milky Way Galaxy, however, this particular discovery is the first Earth-sized planet to be found in the habitable zone of another star.
“We know of just one planet where life exists, Earth. When we search for life outside our solar system we focus on finding planets with characteristics that mimic that of Earth,” Quintana said.
“This is one of the big milestones that we’re looking for in our attempts to find out if there are places just like our home and if there is life out there,” said research scientist Thomas Barclay.
“Well, we don’t know just yet, but we know there are places that at least look similar,” he said.
By now, the scientists have found 1800 planets beyond our solar system, however, Kepler 186f is the first they believe might have a life form.