NASA Just Discovered 'Earth 2.0'

 

NASA said Thursday that its Kepler spacecraft has spotted "Earth's bigger, older cousin": the first nearly Earth-size planet to be found in the habitable zone of a star similar to our own.

Though NASA can't say for sure whether the planet is rocky like ours or has water and air, it's the closest match yet found.
 NASA On Thursday, July 23, announced the discovery of Kepler-452b, "Earth's bigger, older cousin." This artistic concept shows what the planet might look like. Scientists can't tell yet whether Kepler-452b has oceans and continents like Earth.
Where life might live beyond Earth 12 photos
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"Today, Earth is a little less lonely," Kepler researcher Jon Jenkins said.

Meet Kepler-452b, the planet the agency calls "Earth 2.0." It was discovered by NASA's floating observatory, orbiting in the "habitable zone" of constellation Cygnus.

The "habitable zone" factor is significant because it means the planet is situated in an area around its star where liquid water could pool on the surface of an orbiting planet, according to NASA
At a distance of 1,400 light-years away, it's too far away to travel to right now. But it's promising to hear that temperatures are consistent with those on Earth, and it spins around a G2-type star, the same stellar classification as our Sun.
It was sitting there the entire time

Although Kepler-452b was only recently discovered, the Earth-like planet is actually 60% bigger than our home, officially giving it NASA's super-Earth-size status.

It's also orbiting a sun, Kepler-452, that is 6 billion years old, which is 1.5 billion years older than our Sun. Bust out the intergalactic shades, because it still shines bright. The alien sun is 20% brighter and has a diameter 10% larger than our home star.

Despite this, the Kepler-452b orbit takes 385 days, or only 5% longer than Earth's orbit. Fingers crossed all 20 extra days are in the summer.

NASA says that the planet's mass and composition have yet to be determined, but that it's "a good chance of being rocky." This makes the "Earth 2.0" nickname more meaningful and gives Hollywood enough reason to put Matt Damon in a third space movie in a year's time.