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Has Nasa spotted another ‘EARTH’?
Has Nasa spotted another ‘EARTH’?
Planet hunting Kepler Space Telescope set to make announcement.
Nasa announced astronomers are on the cusp of finding ‘another Earth’
It is to reveal Kepler’s latest discovery at a news conference on Thursday
Kepler Space Telescope has spotted 1,028 planets since launching in 2009.
Astronomers may be preparing to announce the discovery of a planet similar to Earth that has been found orbiting another star.
Nasa is due to hold a news conference on Thursday to reveal the latest discoveries from its Kepler Space Telescope, which has been scouring the skies for planets outside our own solar system.
The telescope has discovered more than 1,000 of these so-called exoplanets since it was launched in 2009.
It said: ‘The first exoplanet orbiting another star like our sun was discovered in 1995.
‘Exoplanets, especially small Earth-size worlds, belonged within the realm of science fiction just 21 years ago.
‘Today, and thousands of discoveries later, astronomers are on the cusp of finding something people have dreamed about for thousands of years – another Earth.’
Orbiting around around the sun around 93 million miles (150 million km) from Earth, the Kepler Space Telescope has discovered 1,028 planets and 4,661 candidate planets during its mission.
It has been searching six specific areas of the sky for minute changes in the brightness of stars that may indicate a planet, or planets, passing in front it.
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