Kepler-22b is located in the center of its habitable zone, its radius is 2.4 times that of Earth, and it orbits a sun slightly smaller than ours for 290 days. Previous planets have been found at the edge of their habitable zones, such as Mars and Venus in our solar system
NASA's Kepler satellite, which searches for planets outside the solar system, has discovered its first planet located in the "habitable zone", the area around the sun of that star where the sky is in a liquid state on the planet's surface. Kepler also discovered over a thousand new planet candidates, nearly doubling the number of planets known today. Ten of these candidates are Earth-sized and in the habitable zone in their orbits around the star they orbit. The candidates obviously require follow-up observations to make sure that these are indeed planets and not other phenomena that disrupt the observations.
Kepler-22b is located 600 light years from Earth. While the planet is larger than the Earth, it orbits for 290 days a star similar to our sun, and which belongs to the same type of the sun - type G, although it is slightly smaller and colder than our sun.
However, it is the smallest planet discovered so far in the center of the habitable zone of a star similar to our Sun. Its radius is 2.4 times greater than that of the Earth. Scientists do not yet know whether Kepler-22b has a rocky surface or whether its composition is gaseous or perhaps liquid, but the discovery is a first step towards finding a planet similar to Earth.
Previous studies had hinted at the existence of planets close in size to Earth in their habitable zones, but repeated tests have disproved this. Two other minor planets orbiting stars smaller than the Sun have recently been confirmed to be at the edge of their habitable zone, with orbits similar to those of Venus and Mars.
"This is an important milestone on the way to finding a twin for Earth," says Douglas Hudgins, Kepler Project Scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The Kepler results continue to demonstrate the importance of NASA's science missions that seek to answer some of the big questions about our place in the universe."
Kepler discovers planets and planet candidates by measuring decreases in the brightness of over 150 stars in search of planets passing by. Kepler requires at least three transits (three years of the same planet) to confirm a signal from a planet.
"We are fortunate to have discovered these planets," says William Borkey, Kepler's principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center in California, who led the Kepler-22b discovery team. "The first pass was made three days after the spacecraft was declared operational, so we saw the third pass near the end of 2010.
The team also used ground-based telescopes and the Spitzer Space Telescope to make follow-up observations of planet candidates discovered by Kepler. The field of stars Kepler observes in Cygnus and Harp groups which can be seen from ground telescopes from spring to autumn (in winter they 'shine' during the day). The data from these observations help determine which candidates can be considered planets.
Over 54 habitable zone planet candidates were reported in February 2011, but Kepler-22b was the first of them to be confirmed, and the research on it was reported in the Astrophysical Journal.
Kepler team members are currently holding a scientific conference at NASA's Ames Center (December 5-9) where they announced 1,094 new planet candidates. Since the last catalog in February, the number of candidates identified by Kepler has increased by 89% and now contains 2,326 candidates, of which 207 are near-Earth-sized, 680 are super-Earths, 1,181 are Neptune-sized, 203 are Jupiter-sized and -55 are bigger than Jupiter.
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If indeed the distance from the planet is 600 light years,
According to my calculation assuming that the speed of a spaceship is 3000 Kms
With today's means we will reach the planet 216 million years later.
You should hurry…….
Grace
As far as I know, the number of known galaxies today reaches up to 125 billion, and these are only those that are included in our field of vision, which the universe probably continues beyond.
point
The number of stars is greater than the number of grains of sand on Earth.
A hundred billion stars in every galaxy, and there are a hundred billion galaxies.
The universe spans 75 billion light years.
Kepler discovered over a thousand Earth-like planets in our environment.
And only here was life created?
This is already controversial.
I bet they won't find even primitive life elsewhere.
Alon, as one of the greatest poets of our time wrote:
"never say never"
From: justin bieber
An important step is still hidden: how life was created on Earth.
amazing discovery
I've been waiting for this day for a long time, and of course this is just the beginning.
Does anyone know why they didn't check if the planet has an atmosphere or not? And of course what does it consist of?
If I'm not mistaken, its composition can be estimated based on its density, and that based on its size and mass: we know its size, and its mass can be calculated based on the available data, right?
The atmosphere can be checked by spectrography of the starlight that passes through the planet's atmosphere - can't this be checked at a distance of 600 light years?
What is the maximum distance that this data can be checked?
In the future, when we find more Earth-like planets, we may be able to find some kind of correlation between their data, which will allow us to predict which stars are likely to find Earth-like planets. Something that will also explain to us how solar systems like ours are formed.
We will never be able to or want to fly near the speed of light. This is a bad solution in many ways. The solution will be something along the lines of time/space folding, wormholes, etc. This is the direction that quantum mechanics and string theory point to. Or it will be something we haven't even thought about yet... Anyway, an exciting discovery.
I'm excited about humanity's progress and it's likely that humanity will find a way to get there
But feel like I've missed something in life because I'm pretty sure I won't get to see the day we reach the stars
The most amazing period that humanity will know (if there will be such a period).
This is the day when they will be able to physically land on such stars..
I get excited like a child just thinking about it.
If we can - only with the help of observations and without actually reaching the planet - find country matches in a number that can be statistically researched, we can trace the permanent legality of having conditions for the creation of life on the planet (beyond the habitable zone, climate, etc.). So we can:
A. to focus on the search for where in space there is life
B. Discover how to transform chemical forms into organic and living forms (beyond carbon)
By the way, if you picture our world in your head - as it looked 200 years ago - and compare it to today, you see a very considerable technological progress - which can certainly give rise to hope for the invention of a space vehicle that will bypass the speed of light (or that we will find a method of transportation that does not need vehicles or space travel at all …).
In my opinion, there is hope... (-:
If the spaceship sent there moves at a speed close to the speed of light for the passengers in the spaceship the journey will last only a few weeks or months.
A very exciting discovery!!!
The space age is spreading its wings and the day will come when humans will set foot on the soil of this life-supporting planet.
One day we will communicate with a cultured and advanced civilization.
I am very excited
600 light years will not stand in our way. Humanity will break the barrier with creative, scientific and technological solutions.
If not in the next generation, then in a few generations.
To all the skeptics, we may not be able to get there, but to greatly improve our means of observation, we can and we will. And if there is very developed life it is possible that our means of observation in the future will allow us to locate it.
You can buy real estate there. Haha, really, 600 light years, what good is that to us?
a close neighbor If they invent a spacecraft that can fly at a speed close to the speed of light, the flight to the star will take about 600 years...
Amazing. A huge advancement of humanity. I cannot imitate the day when a real "Pandora" is found. It's just a shame that the distance of this particular one is 600 light years...