End Times and Current Events

General Category => UFO/Watcher Theology => Topic started by: Psalm 51:17 on December 06, 2011, 12:48:52 pm



Title: NASA Telescope Confirms Alien Planet in Habitable Zone
Post by: Psalm 51:17 on December 06, 2011, 12:48:52 pm
http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-telescope-confirms-alien-planet-habitable-zone-162005358.html

12/6/11

This story was updated at 12:15 p.m. ET.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft has confirmed the discovery of its first alien world in its host star's habitable zone — that just-right range of distances that could allow liquid water to exist — and found more than 1,000 new explanet candidates, researchers announced today (Dec. 5).

The new finds bring the Kepler space telescope's total haul to 2,326 potential planets in its first 16 months of operation.These discoveries, if confirmed, would quadruple the current tally of worlds known to exist beyond our solar system, which recently topped 700.

The potentially habitable alien world, a first for Kepler, orbits a star very much like our own sun. The discovery brings scientists one step closer to finding a planet like our own — one which could conceivably harbor life, scientists said.

"We're getting closer and closer to discovering the so-called 'Goldilocks planet,'" Pete Worden, director of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., said during a press conference today. [Gallery: The Strangest Alien Planets]

The newfound planet in the habitable zone is called Kepler-22b. It is located about 600 light-years away, orbiting a sun-like star.

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