NASA finds ‘elder cousin’ of the Earth – Overview

It is called Kepler-452b and is the exoplanet (planet outside our solar system) smallest so far discovered in the “habitable zone” – the region around a star where there are conditions for the existence of water. And with it, are already in 1030 the planets confirmed by NASA.

“In the year of the 20th anniversary of the discovery that proved that other suns host planets, the Kepler telescope has discovered a planet and a star that most resemble Earth and our Sun, “said John Grunsfeld, head of the US space agency, on Thursday.

“This exciting result leaves us one step closer to finding an Earth 2.0.”

Although the Kepler-452b be 60% larger in diameter than Earth, its orbit lasts just over 5% of the time: 385 days. The age of this older cousin? Six billion years.

“We can think of Kepler-452b as an older first, larger than Earth, providing an opportunity to understand and reflect on the changing environment of the Earth,” suggests Jon Jenkins , who led the team responsible for the discovery of exoplanet.