A new twin? Scientists announce most Earth-like world yet found – boosting chances in search for alien life
Worldwide, Daily news | ankakh | January 11, 2013 2:57
An alien planet spotted by Nasa’s Kepler space telescope is the best candidate yet for an Earth-like world beyond our solar system, Scientists claim.
The planet – whose existence is yet to be positively confirmed. has a radius that is just 1.5 times that of our own and orbits in the ‘habitable zone’ of a star similar to our own Sun.
That means the planet would likely have a similar amount of gravity as Earth and liquid water could exist on its surface – making it a prime candidate to host alien life.
The announcement comes after it was revealed at the same meeting that analysis of data from Kepler had shown there are 17billion planets in the galaxy that are Earth-like in size.
Analysis of Kepler’s data indicates that the object takes 242 days to orbit its star, from which it is about three quarters as distant as the Earth is from the Sun.
Astrophysicist Mario Livio, of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, told SPACE.com that the find was a ‘big deal’.
‘It’s definitely a good candidate for life,’ he said.
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