NASA have discovered an Earth-like planet orbiting a nearby star within a part of our galaxy which they claim could contains life. Kepler-186f is 500 life-years from Earth and is within the Cygnus constellation.
This is the first Earth-sized planet to be found within the habitable zone of another star. The habitable zone, known as the Goldilocks zone, is the region around a star where planetary-mass objects with sufficient atmospheric pressure can support liquid water on their surfaces. More at yournewswire.com
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In addition to Kepler-186f, there are 4 other planets that orbit a nearby star within the Kepler-186f system. What this means is that if the nearby star to this planet is similar to our Sun, then the probability of life on this planet exponentially rises.
“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,” said Elisa Quintana, research scientist at the SETI Institute at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., and lead author of the paper published today in the journal Science. “Finding a habitable zone planet comparable to Earth in size is a major step forward.”