NASA Discover Earth 2.0; We, For One, Welcome Our New Cousin Planet Overlord

By

Published

July 23, 2015

NASA have announced that, during the recent Kepler Mission, they found a planet that was extremely similar to our own. Say a big hello and welcome to the family, Kepler 452b!

While cuz’s name could use some work, NASA has said we’re totally twinsies, because Kepz452b is in the ‘habitable zone’ (it revolves around a star but water can pool on the surface):

“Kepler-452b fires the planet hunter’s imagination because it is the most similar to the Earth-sun system found yet,” NASA’s statement says. “A planet at the right temperature within the habitable zone, and only about one-and-a-half times the diameter of Earth, circling a star very much like our own sun.”

Scientists using data from NASA’s Kepler mission have confirmed the first near-Earth-size planet orbiting in the habitable zone of a sun-like star. The habitable zone is the region around a star where temperatures are just right for water to exist in its liquid form. The artistic concept compares Earth (left) to the new planet, called Kepler 452b, which is about 60 percent larger. The illustration represents one possible appearance for Kepler 452b scientists do not know whether the planet has oceans and continents like Earth. Both planets orbit a G2-type star of about the same temperature; however, the star hosting Kepler-452b is 6 billion years old, 1.5 billion years older than our sun. As stars age, they become larger, hotter and brighter, as represented in the illustration. Kepler-452b’s star appears a bit larger and brighter. Kepler-452b is estimated to be 1.6 times the size of our own world, and resides in a clement, life-friendly orbit around a star in the constellation of Cygnus, some 1,400 light-years away, that is eerily similar to our own Sun. Credit: NASA/JPL #Spacetime #Knowledge #Universe #Alien #Biology #Water #Life #Extraterrestrial #Science #Physics #Astronomy #Cosmology #Kepler452b #Constellation #Interstellar #Planet #Stargazing #Galaxy #Nebula #Blackhole #Spacetime #ParallelUniverse #NASA #KeplerTelescope #Atom #BigBang #EarthLike #Atmosphere #Astronomer #SpaceExploration

A photo posted by Marwan H. Al-Raisi (@marwan.h.alraisi) on Jul 23, 2015 at 1:53pm PDT

Kepparoo is 60% larger than Earth, which makes us feel super tiny. Cuz is also 6 billion years old, (a whole 1.5 billion years older than our Sun), so we guess this addition to the planetary family is kinda like that older cousin that buys you booze when you’re underage.

The mission also found 11 other habitable zone planets, and NASA seem stoked: “This exciting result brings us one step closer to finding an Earth 2.0,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

EARTH 2.0, PEOPLE.