Kepler, the spacecraft-bound observatory that was launched into orbit to detect the presence of any Earth-like planets outside our solar system, has brought astronomers glad tidings.
Earlier this month, it spotted Kepler 22b, an overgrown Earth, of sorts, shimmering with the possibility of life. In its favor, are its location, in the so-called "Goldilocks zone”—a region around a star that is neither too frigid nor too scalding—and a pleasant surface temperature of 72 degrees Fahrenheit.
More recently, it came upon a pair of Earth-sized planets orbiting the star system Kepler 20, about 950 light years away from us. The delight is that they are almost Earth-like in their dimensions. Unfortunately, unlike Kepler 22b, they are a little too close to their star, almost wrapped around it, to have a habitable climate.
The two new planets, Kepler 20e and Kepler 20f, are far outside the Goldilocks zone — so close to the star, termed Kepler 20, that one of them is roasting at up to 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit—and thus unlivable.
Kepler 20e, the closer and hotter planet, is also the smaller — about 6,900 miles across, or slightly smaller than Venus — and it resides about 5 million miles from its star. The more distant planet, Kepler 20f, also broiling at around 800 degrees, is 10 million miles out from its star. It is 8,200 miles in diameter, about the size of Earth. The two planets are presumed to be rocky orbs that formed in the outskirts of their planetary system and then migrated inward.(Via The New York Times)
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