NASA Telescope Discovers a New Habitable Planet

Kepler telescope

The United States space agency NASA announced last Monday 05 of December, that the space telescope Kepler confirmed for the first time the existence of a planet that can support life outside the solar system.

Kepler 22b was detected for the first time in 2009, it was located at 600 light years from the earth. This is the first exoplanet that can support life. Astronomers confirmed that the conditions for life are acceptable in terms of water, temperature and atmosphere. However this does not mean that there is life there.

The planet Kepler 22b has 2,4 times the radius of our Earth, this includes the planet into a category called ‘super terrestrial’ which rotate in a star similar to the sun every 290 days. The estimated surface temperature is of 22-Celsius degrees, but it is not know if the surface of the planet is rocky, gaseous or liquid. The discovery of Kepler 22b adds itself to the three planets already discovered to support life. (AV)

AFP