The Holy Grail of space is getting closer. Kepler has discovered 1,200 new exoplanets – Spider’s Web

Almost half of them are Earth-like planets. Are you one of them we find life?

Kepler mission began in 2009. Built by NASA telescope was launched into orbit to monitor 150 thousand. stars and explore the planets that revolve around them. He had to bring an answer or planetary systems such as our Milky Way is much, or maybe we are a notable exception. With the task fulfilled with a vengeance!

Kepler to July 2015 discovered a 4302 celestial bodies, and now scientists have confirmed that 1284 of these planets.

This is a real revolution in the process of discovery for us cosmos, because he has never made such a huge leap in terms of the number of known planets.

If not for Kepler, every year odkrywalibyśmy no more than 200 planets.

Credits: NASA Ames / W. Stenzel, Princeton University / T. Morton

The discovery is all the more significant that almost half – 550 planets are rocky planets, which like Earth or Mars. Apart our solar system very hard to find them because they are small and light compared to gas giants such as Jupiter or Saturn.

Credits: NASA Ames / W. Stenzel

Meanwhile, life as we know it can be born only on the rocky surface of the planet. In addition, 10 new planets is in the so-called. ecosphere, that is the right distance from the star to a long time could there be liquid water.

This “ten” is a potential candidate to the discovery of life, because life on Earth was born near water. Among the most popular scientists are now two hypotheses. The first says that it was in the swamps with the direct land-sea interface, and the second is that the hydrothermal vents.

Credits: NASA Ames / N. Batalha and W. Stenzel

Although all the newly discovered planets are in our galaxy, it separates us from them, many light years, so there is unlikely to ever look at them closer, not to mention landing.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that the real Columbu space include falls two Poles. first, Andrew Wolszczan, astronomer who discovered the first extrasolar planets (exactly three – orbiting pulsaru) and second order Maciej Konacki, who discovered a gas giant orbiting so close around its star that the full circuit takes him only three days. It’s a planet in the type of gaseous Jupiter, from which you can enjoy some of the most beautiful sunsets in this part of the galaxy. in the sky occur there, three stars.

Graphics Home: NASA