NASA
today announced that Kepler, its alien world-hunting spacecraft, has
discovered two previously unknown planetary systems including three
super-Earth size planets in the much-coveted "habitable zone" capable of
sustaining life.
This diagram compares the planets of our solar system to Kepler-62, one of the newly found systems. The five-planet system is a relatively close 1,200 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Lyra. The five planets of Kepler-62 orbit a 7-billion-year-old star classified as a K2 dwarf -- just two-thirds the size of our sun -- and only one-fifth as bright.
Much like our solar system, Kepler-62 is home to two habitable zone worlds, Kepler-62f and Kepler-62e. Kepler-62f orbits every 267 days and is only 40 percent larger than Earth, making it the smallest exoplanet known in the habitable zone of another star. The other habitable zone planet, Kepler-62e, orbits every 122 days and is roughly 60 percent larger than Earth.
The two habitable zone worlds orbiting Kepler-62 have three interior companions, two larger than the size of Earth and one about the size of Mars. Kepler-62b, Kepler-62c, and Kepler-62d orbit every five, 12, and 18 days, respectively, making them very hot and inhospitable for life as we know it.
This diagram compares the planets of our solar system to Kepler-62, one of the newly found systems. The five-planet system is a relatively close 1,200 light-years from Earth, in the constellation Lyra. The five planets of Kepler-62 orbit a 7-billion-year-old star classified as a K2 dwarf -- just two-thirds the size of our sun -- and only one-fifth as bright.
Much like our solar system, Kepler-62 is home to two habitable zone worlds, Kepler-62f and Kepler-62e. Kepler-62f orbits every 267 days and is only 40 percent larger than Earth, making it the smallest exoplanet known in the habitable zone of another star. The other habitable zone planet, Kepler-62e, orbits every 122 days and is roughly 60 percent larger than Earth.
The two habitable zone worlds orbiting Kepler-62 have three interior companions, two larger than the size of Earth and one about the size of Mars. Kepler-62b, Kepler-62c, and Kepler-62d orbit every five, 12, and 18 days, respectively, making them very hot and inhospitable for life as we know it.
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