"This is a phenomenal discovery. This proves that Homo sapiens is getting closer to our achievements in the universe to find a planet that reminds us of home. We're almost there," said Geoff Marcy, a researcher from the University of California, Berkeley, told the AP on Tuesday (12/06/2011).
Confirmed habitable planets are named Kepler 22b. The planet is orbiting Sun-like star called Kepler 22 and is 600 light years from Earth.
Kepler 22b has several similarities with the Earth. Earth around the sun for 365 days, while Kepler 22b around its parent star within 290 days. Just a little different.
The temperature of the Earth and 22b Kepler did not differ much. Stated that if the greenhouse effect works in Kepler 22b, the temperature of the planet around 22 degrees celsius.
Differences found in size. Kepler 22b measuring 2.4 times larger than Earth.
While the mass is not known so it is difficult to ascertain whether Kepler 22b is a rocky or gas giant planets. If it is a gas planet, it would be difficult for humans to live there.
Although confirmed habitable, it is still difficult for humans to go to Kepler 22b. A light year is equivalent to 9.65 trillion miles. It took 22 million years to get there with current technology. Technology was the one who later would answer whether to go to Kepler 22b would be a dream or reality.
In addition to the discovery of Kepler 22b, NASA also announced that Kepler now has a 2326 candidate habitable planets. This number increased in 1094 from the announcement last month of February 2011 which states that there is a 1235 candidate habitable planets.
From 2326 the number of planet candidates, 207 of whom have the equivalent size of Earth. While the other 680 is larger than the Earth. The number of planets that exist in the Livable Zone alone there are 48 pieces. Research is needed to confirm whether all these planets are habitable.
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