NASA Announces First Earth Twin in Habitable Zone Discovered by Kepler

UW in the house! Go Dawgs!

First Earth Analog Discovered and Confirmed by Kepler.

www.nasa.gov...


More to follow.....

Wow!! And only 500-light years from us. THAT could be very significant. So much for 'we are all alone'. No way.

This is so cool.

Although the size of Kepler-186f is known, its mass and composition are not. Previous research, however, suggests that a planet the size of Kepler-186f is likely to be rocky.

"We know of just one planet where life exists -- Earth. When we search for life outside our solar system we focus on finding planets with characteristics that mimic that of Earth," said Elisa Quintana, research scientist at the SETI Institute at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., and lead author of the paper published today in the journal Science. "Finding a habitable zone planet comparable to Earth in size is a major step forward."

Kepler-186f resides in the Kepler-186 system, about 500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. The system is also home to four companion planets, which orbit a star half the size and mass of our sun. The star is classified as an M dwarf, or red dwarf, a class of stars that makes up 70 percent of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy.

"M dwarfs are the most numerous stars," said Quintana. "The first signs of other life in the galaxy may well come from planets orbiting an M dwarf."

This is exciting! S/F

reply to post by JadeStar


Very cool... be before we get too excited, we have to remember that being in a habitable zone is only one thing in a loooong laundry list of requirements for life... as we know it.

"habitable zone" -- the range of distance from a star where liquid water might pool on the surface of an orbiting planet

I've got family there. It's kind of a hassle when it's their turn to host Thanksgiving.

reply to post by cestrup


LOL!
(What do they look like? )

Im sure the universe is teeming with life at various stages of technological advancement.
Our neighbour/s are much more advance than us and they know about us and have been/are visitors.
Welcome to the Universe and its inhabitants!

The telescope is so good, they actually have a close-up of the planet's surface!

VegHead
reply to post by JadeStar

 

Very cool... be before we get too excited, we have to remember that being in a habitable zone is only one thing in a loooong laundry list of requirements for life... as we know it.

"habitable zone" -- the range of distance from a star where liquid water might pool on the surface of an orbiting planet

edit on 17-4-2014 by VegHead because: (no reason given)

Correct. But until today there was only 1 Earth sized planet known in a habitable zone. Our own.

Has the thought ever occurred to anybody else that we 'The Earth' may have already been spotted in our 'goldielocks zone' by others a long time ago? I mean, if we with our meager 21st Century Tech can do it why couldn't other even more advanced Civilizations have spotted us in ours?

Here is how we will learn more about planets like Kepler 186f

reply to post by SLAYER69

Has the thought ever occurred to anybody else that we 'The Earth' may have already been spotted in our 'goldielocks zone' by others a long time ago? - See more at: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Hello.

I'm thinking that just about everyone on ATS who pays any attention to space exploration/UFO/alien theories would already have figured that out. That's what's so exciting about it, I think.

But...yes. I'm sure we aren't "alone" - preposterous to think so.

BuzzyWigs
reply to post by cestrup

 

LOL!

(What do they look like?

)

Haven't seen them in a while but my guess is a little older than last time.

BEFORE Today:




AFTER Today:

reply to post by JadeStar


Very cool! We are getting closer and closer to those golden facts and figures we need to have to prove life is not isolated upon Earth.
While its a given we are not alone in the universe. Science has a strict set of rules for having its numbers and measurements in order before we proclaim something as a Golden Fact, or law of our known understanding of this universe.

Up till now, we did not have the facts and figures, the measurements taken by the higher minds of this planet to show we are not the only planet in the universe that shows signature resemblances to our own planet.

It won't be long now. We are reaching the tipping point for our minds, and how we see the universe.

They just confirmed this planet was in the big batch of 700 planets they confirmed before (when it was rumored they'd announce it earlier this year). I had kinda jumped the gun with that post but they confirmed on the conference call that this planet was indeed in that batch. It was just held back for announcement until today because they wanted to be sure.

They also just confirmed SETI will be looking at Kepler 186f across the full spectrum they can.


From the Planetary Habitability Lab at Arecibo:




Sunsets:



It has been estimated prior to today's announcement that the closest habitable planet to the Earth in terms of distance would be between 6 and 10 light years.

This was due to the Kepler findings prior to today.

After today this estimate is pretty much confirmed as very likely.

Our nearest neighbor like Earth is likely less than 10 light years away based on M-Dwarf distribution:

reply to post by JadeStar


Thanks Jade, cutting the cake and uncorking the champagne. A new semi-Earth has arrived intact.

I only have a minute to look at this now, but will check out the thread, the images, and the links later. Very good to "see" you around again, and with such interesting news (my present avatar is a playful Mars rock).

reply to post by JadeStar


This is way cool, Jade. Keep the good news coming.
SnF

Aleister
reply to post by JadeStar

 

Thanks Jade, cutting the cake and uncorking the champagne. A new semi-Earth has arrived intact.

I only have a minute to look at this now, but will check out the thread, the images, and the links later. Very good to "see" you around again, and with such interesting news (my present avatar is a playful Mars rock).

This is likely a historic day for the planet we live on. What was once the domain of philosophers is now the reality of astronomy.

For those who are so inclined here is the actual paper on this discovery.

Also at 6pm Eastern/3pm Pacific the SETI Institute is hosting a Google Hangout about this discovery where you can ask questions here.

This is very exciting news Besides mass and size, we don't know what the atmosphere is made of and if it has water in it right?
Being in the habitable zone of a star makes it very likely the planet is rocky with liquid water right?
s&f, thanks for sharing

Any information on the age of the planet's parent star? Is it older or younger than our Sun. I wonder what this planet's rotational period is. Looking at the chart, I'd guess the planet is a little bit chillier than Earth.