NASA's Kepler Mission Announces Latest Planetary Discovery

The Kepler mission's science team announced its latest finding at a press conference on Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. The team announced the confirmation of Kepler-22b, its first planet found in the "habitable zone," the region where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface. The planet is about 2.4 times the radius of Earth, orbits around a star similar to our sun and is located 600 light-years away. Scientists don't yet know if Kepler-22b has a predominantly rocky, gaseous or liquid composition, but its discovery is a step closer to finding Earth-like planets. The planet's host star belongs to the same class as our sun, called G-type, although it is slightly smaller and cooler.

Kepler also has discovered 1,094 new planet candidates, nearly doubling its previously known count. Since the last catalog was released in February, the number of planet candidates identified by Kepler has increased by 89 percent and now totals 2,326. Of these, 207 are approximately Earth-size, 680 are super Earth-size, 1,181 are Neptune-size, 203 are Jupiter-size and 55 are larger than Jupiter. The findings, based on observations conducted May 2009 to September 2010, show a dramatic increase in the numbers of smaller-size planet candidates.

For more information about the Kepler mission, please visit www.nasa.gov/kepler

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[junfaa]

is the picture of kepler 22-b what it actually looks like?

[nasaames]

@junfaa All of the images of Kepler planets are artists' concepts based on discussions with scientists. 

[nasaames]

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[lovinnkaylaxox]

really? really? was the budget for NASAA cut that much that it looks like an elementary school assembly? They are making a huge announcement and this is all they have?

[EricFleet]

NASA Budget =  17,800,000,000

Military Budget = 700,000,000,000+

SS/Medicare = 700,000,000,000+

[MultiManriquez]

I hope that If humans succed on habitating another planet, do not ruin the life by putting another religion on place.

[YingYangParadox]

Wow!

[AwsomeAthiest]

@lovinnkaylaxox To be fair we just dont have big enough telescopes to get any decent images of these planets, heres hoping that will change with the james webb and the ESO ELT :)

[connor2008123]

42:39 shakey shakey hand

[SFMacross]

@nasaames So.. I know this might be a silly question, but are the scientists able to see the planet? You mentioned they are artists' concepts. So if not, do you believe the planet would look more beautiful if you could see it (I guess up close)?

[chingon89ful]

WERE ALWAYS TALKING ABOUT ALIENS INVADING OUR PLANET BUT WE WILL BE THE ALIENS INVADING OTHER PLANETS ITS SO IRONIC.

[chingon89ful]

LUNES/MOONS MARTES/MARS MIERCOLES/MERCURY JUEVES/JUPITER/ VIERNES/VENUS SATURDAY/SATURN SUNDAY THIS IS SOMETHING YOU CANT REALLY FIND ANYWHERE I JUST THINK A LOT AND THINKING IS GOOD ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE BIG ACROMEGALY BRAIN CASE TO HOLD A BRAIN THAT FUNCTIONS THE WAY A BRAIN SHOULD.I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT ALL OF THESE PLANETS WILL HAVE A SOLAR RELIGION AS WELL THEY WILL HAVE STONEHENGES SOLAR MOVEMENT AND SOLAR NOON TIMING CHRISTMAS TREE PYRAMIDS WITH STARS AT THE TOPS AND SO ON. WE ARE ALIENS

[WorldPeaceGTG]

If this becomes a habitable planet and could have human species living on it, My only wish is to not have any people that are destroying the earth to live on it, we don't want to ruin this planet too. Hopefully all the research is complete, and this becomes a true Super-Earth!

[shaunkilla1]

how would we ever get to this planet but its amazing how big the universe is and theres a place off of this planet