Astronomers and Scientists today reported that they had discovered another earth like planey beyond our solar system using the Kepler Space Telescope. Astronomer Geoff Marcy from the University of California-Berkeley and other scientists found more than 500 large gasseous planets like Jupiter or Saturn.
This is the first one that they found that resembled possible Earth-like characterstics. Mossy said that the planet measures just 1.4 times the size of Earth. The announcement of this discovery came at the annual meetin gof the American Astronomical Society. The planet called Kepler-10b is significantly heavier than earth and and quite a bit hotter. This is because it orbits its star much more closely similar to Mercury oribitting our Sun. This is 20 times closer to the star and because of which, its surface temperature is about 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit.
This detection has also proved to scientists and astronomers alike that Kepler is completely capable of detecting distant planets and Earth like system.s Kepler detects planets by looking out for any reduction in light originating from its host star as a planet passes in front of it. If this decrease in light happens with correct curve and regularity, it is a result of a planet passing the star.
The Kepler-10b’s orbit was less than a earth day that. Its one year lasted 0.84 Earth days! This made it easy for scientists to sort the data. Kepler-10b is unlikely to be every be a habitable planet because of its surface temperature but this discovery is significant because planets of these sizes at the right distance will and can support life.