NASA Discovers Larger, Older Cousin to Earth

NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed the first near-Earth-size planet in the 'habitable zone' around a sun-like star. The newly discovered Kepler-452b is the smallest planet to date discovered orbiting in the habitable zone - the area around a star where liquid water could pool on the surface of an orbiting planet - of a G2-type star, like our sun. The confirmation of Kepler-452b brings the total number of confirmed planets to 1,030. This video shows an artist's concept that depicts one possible appearance of the planet Kepler-452b.

Transcript

00:00:01 Narrator: NASA's Kepler Mission has discovered the first near-Earth-size planet orbiting in the habitable zone of a star very similar to our Sun. Located about 1,400 light-years from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus, the newly discovered planet resides in the Kepler-452 system. The planet, called Kepler-452b, is about 60 percent larger than Earth. While its mass and composition are not known, researchers believe that it is likely

00:00:32 to be a rocky world. The host star of Kepler-452b is the same "G" type as our Sun. It is 6 billion years old, 1.5 billion years older than our Sun and is 10 percent larger and 20 percent brighter. Kepler-452b receives only 10 percent more energy from its star than the Earth does from the Sun. Since the Kepler mission was launched in 2009, it has identified 4,696 planet candidates,

00:01:04 one thousand of which have been confirmed as planets. Of those confirmed, 12 are near-Earth-size and in the habitable zone of their star. The mission has provided data that has helped to redefine our understanding of stars and planetary systems in our galaxy. Researchers will use this data to continue to make discoveries for years to come. (Electronic Sounds of Data) (Musical Tones)