NASA Spots 3 Planets Suitable for Life
- 11 years ago
NASA spots three planets that are suitable for life.
A NASA satellite has located three planets in two planetary systems that might support liquid water, although they are thousands of light years away.
The Kepler satellite has discovered the planets in a so called “habitable zone” in their systems, meaning within a certain distance from their host star, such as the sun is to our solar system.
Earlier in the Kepler mission, it found mostly very large gaseous planets.
Thomas Barclay, Kepler scientist at the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute in Sonoma, California said: "If there is life, it would be very unlike what we see on our own world. Future NASA missions are going to focus on more nearby stars that we can look at in much more detail.”
Five planets were announced from the Kepler 62 planetary system, and 2 planets in the Kepler 69 system. 2 of the planets within the habitable zone are in Kepler 62 and the third in Kepler 69.
All of the 3 planets within the habitable zone are larger than Earth.
One is an estimated 70 percent larger and others are about 40 and 60 percent larger.
A NASA satellite has located three planets in two planetary systems that might support liquid water, although they are thousands of light years away.
The Kepler satellite has discovered the planets in a so called “habitable zone” in their systems, meaning within a certain distance from their host star, such as the sun is to our solar system.
Earlier in the Kepler mission, it found mostly very large gaseous planets.
Thomas Barclay, Kepler scientist at the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute in Sonoma, California said: "If there is life, it would be very unlike what we see on our own world. Future NASA missions are going to focus on more nearby stars that we can look at in much more detail.”
Five planets were announced from the Kepler 62 planetary system, and 2 planets in the Kepler 69 system. 2 of the planets within the habitable zone are in Kepler 62 and the third in Kepler 69.
All of the 3 planets within the habitable zone are larger than Earth.
One is an estimated 70 percent larger and others are about 40 and 60 percent larger.