By - Dan Vergano
Category - Six Flags Magic Mountain
Posted By - Hampton Inn Santa Clarita
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| Six Flags Magic Mountain |
Earth is looking a little less lonely after NASA astronomers reported Thursday the discovery of three more Earth-sized worlds orbiting nearby stars.
Astronomers have spotted more than 800 planets orbiting nearby stars in recent decades, but only a handful have been Earth-sized, “Goldilocks” worlds, not too hot and not too cold for water. Astronomers consider water an essential ingredient for the possibility of life on other planets.
The Kepler space telescope findings reported in the journal Science by a team led by William Borucki of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., add to that total. The report finds that the star, Kepler-62 has two planets, Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f, traveling in ocean-friendly orbits around the star.
“This appears to be the best example our team has found yet of Earth-like planets in the habitable zone of a sun-like star,” said team astrophysicist Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution for Science of Washington. Kepler-62 is close by astronomical standards at about 1,200 light years away (708,000 trillion miles). It’s slightly smaller than our sun, so its “habitable zone” for planets is closer in. The two ocean-friendly planets have “years” of 122 days and 267 days — the time it takes to orbit the star — for that reason.
Another star spotted by Kepler, dubbed Kepler-69, appears to have a planet in the habitable zone. The planet, Kepler-69c, is 70 percent larger than Earth and circles its star once every 242 days.
Astronomers have spotted more than 800 planets orbiting nearby stars in recent decades, but only a handful have been Earth-sized, “Goldilocks” worlds, not too hot and not too cold for water. Astronomers consider water an essential ingredient for the possibility of life on other planets.
The Kepler space telescope findings reported in the journal Science by a team led by William Borucki of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., add to that total. The report finds that the star, Kepler-62 has two planets, Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f, traveling in ocean-friendly orbits around the star.
“This appears to be the best example our team has found yet of Earth-like planets in the habitable zone of a sun-like star,” said team astrophysicist Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution for Science of Washington. Kepler-62 is close by astronomical standards at about 1,200 light years away (708,000 trillion miles). It’s slightly smaller than our sun, so its “habitable zone” for planets is closer in. The two ocean-friendly planets have “years” of 122 days and 267 days — the time it takes to orbit the star — for that reason.
Another star spotted by Kepler, dubbed Kepler-69, appears to have a planet in the habitable zone. The planet, Kepler-69c, is 70 percent larger than Earth and circles its star once every 242 days.
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