Friday, December 14, 2007

Kepler 22 B Earth Like Planet Confirmed

Kepler 22 B Earth Like Planet Confirmed
KEPLER 22-B: EARTH-LIKE Planet Right

The planet lies about 15% earlier to its star than the Gain is to the Sun Cast inquiry the basic story

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Astronomers have a meal clear the existence of an Earth-like planet in the "habitable zone" rudely a star not singular our own.

The planet, Kepler 22-b, lies about 600 light-years unfashionable and is about 2.4 grow old the roundness of Gain, and has a leg of about 22C.

It is the adjoining clear planet yet to one prefer ours - an "Gain 2.0".

Bar, the set up does not yet relate if Kepler 22-b is prepared first and foremost of rock, gas or explanation.

Popular the conference at which the tip was announced, the Kepler set up invented that it had spotted a few 1,094 new nominee planets.

The Kepler space telescope was understood to firm at a usual encase of the night sky, staring directly at about 150,000 stars. The telescope is throb plethora to see to the same degree a planet passes in assumed role of its multitude star, dimming the star's light by a microscopic price.

Kepler identifies these good quality changes in starlight as nominee planets, which are also clear by early payment interpretation by Kepler and other telescopes in spin and on Gain. Cast inquiry the basic story

KEPLER Short vacation Telescope


* Stares obstinately at a flowerbed amicable to 1/400th of the sky
* Looks at leader than 155,000 stars
* Has so far found 2,326 nominee planets
* In the middle of them are 207 Earth-sized planets, 10 of which are in the "habitable zone" someplace explanation water can exist

* William Borucki meeting about Kepler


Kepler 22-b was one of 54 candidates reported by the Kepler set up in February, and is only the first to be distantly clear using other telescopes.

More of these "Gain 2.0" candidates are accountable to be clear in the adjoining unconventional, whereas a redefinition of the habitable zone's boundaries has brought that believe down to 48.

Kepler 22-b lies at a alienate from its sun about 15% beneath than the alienate from the Gain to the Sun, and its year takes about 290 being. Bar, its sun puts out about 25% beneath light, upholding the planet at its friendly leg that would prove right the existence of explanation water.

The Kepler set up had to break in proceedings for three passes of the planet before upping its cachet from "nominee" to "clear".

"Unplanned smiled upon us as well as the detection of this planet," invented William Borucki, Kepler principal investigator at Nasa's Ames Ballot Meat.

"The first transit was captured only three being after we confirmed the spacecraft operationally complete. We witnessed the significant third transit over the 2010 vacation erode."

The argue were announced at the Kepler telescope's first science conference, down the formidable believe of new nominee planets. The given believe of candidates spotted by the telescope is now 2,326 - of which 207 are in the order of Earth-sized.

In given, the argue clue that planets ranging from Earth-sized to about four grow old Earth's roundness - alleged "super-Earths" - may be leader typical than past alleged.