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Kepler Confirms Exoplanet Inside Star's Habitable Zone

Posted by Soulskill on from the book-your-vacation-early dept.

astroengine writes "Plenty of 'candidate' exoplanets exist, but for the first time, Kepler has confirmed the existence of an exoplanet orbiting its Sun-like star right in the middle of its 'habitable zone.' Kepler-22b is 2.4 times the radius of Earth and orbits its star every 290 days. 'This is a major milestone on the road to finding Earth's twin,' said Douglas Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. 'Kepler's results continue to demonstrate the importance of NASA's science missions, which aim to answer some of the biggest questions about our place in the universe.'"

5 of 257 comments (clear)

  1. Silly artist's conceptions. by Samantha+Wright · · Score: 5, Funny

    Scientists don't yet know if Kepler-22b has a predominantly rocky, gaseous or liquid composition, but its discovery is a step closer to finding Earth-like planets.

    Sure they do! Just look at the picture right next to the article! Man, who gets paid to Photoshop these spheres in front of bits of nebulae all day? That must be an interesting job.

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    1. Re:Silly artist's conceptions. by fortapocalypse · · Score: 5, Funny

      Artist: "So what should this thing look like?"
      NASA engineer: "It's 600 light-years away. How the @#$% should I know!"
      Artist: "Picking a planet from an old Star Trek episode at random then."
      NASA engineer: "Ok. But no funny stuff. Save the stars, rainbows, and unicorns for your acid trips."
      Artist: "Nebulous clouds in the background- check."

  2. Re:habitable maybe by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Funny

    Did you have to Rule 34 the thread already?

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  3. Re:Take that... by cowboy76Spain · · Score: 5, Funny

    I really hope we find the Earth evil twin. Surely it will be a world swamped by corruption, hunger, war and incompetence.

    Oh wait....

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  4. Re:Take that... by RasputinAXP · · Score: 5, Funny

    And wearing a goatee.