spacetoday.net: Kepler finds several exoplanets potentially like Earth

Posted: Fri, Apr 19, 2013, 2:26 PM ET (1826 GMT)
Kepler-62e illustration (NASA)

NASA's Kepler spacecraft has detected three "super-Earth" planets in the habitable zones of two stars, worlds scientists said Thursday are the most like the Earth found to date. Scientists analyzing data from Kepler found five planets orbiting a star designated Kepler-62, somewhat smaller and cooler than the Sun. Two of them, Kepler-62e and f, are located in the star's habitable zone; 62e is 60 percent larger than the Earth and on the zone's inner edge, while 62f is farther out and about 40 percent larger than the Earth. A third exoplanet, orbiting the more Sun-like star Kepler-69, is 70 percent larger than the Earth and is in an orbit like Venus. Scientists speculate that these worlds may be rocky and potentially have oceans, although there is no information about just how habitable these worlds actually are.