NASA has announced that it has found 1,284 new planets. With the help of the Kepler telescope, which has been launched in space since 2009, the new discovery puts the total of exoplanets found at 2,325. One of these planets might be similar to Earth and could hold alien life.
NASA initially made it known last weekend that it was going to talk about Kepler's latest discoveries, as reported by Parent Herald. On May 10, NASA said that there are 550 rocky planets from its new discoveries, which have sizes similar to the Earth. From this number, nine planets are orbiting around their sun's "habitual zone," which is similar to our own Solar System. The space agency defines a habitual zone as "the distance from a star where orbiting planets can have surface temperatures that allow liquid water to pool," per the press release.
Planet-hunting @NASAKepler verified 1,284 new planets-largest finding of planets to date: https://t.co/a3iwil3w1P pic.twitter.com/maczWuwBDe
— NASA (@NASA) May 10, 2016
NASA New Planets: Hope For New Earth
"This gives us hope that somewhere out there, around a star much like ours, we can eventually discover another Earth," said chief scientist Ellen Stofan, via New York Post. But a telescope to confirm alien existence has yet to be developed and built. The Kepler telescope aboard the Kepler spacecraft is only meant to find habitual zones and not probe into each planet further.
Still, the Kepler's mission has become a series of successful discoveries. "When launched we did not know if exoplanets or rocky exoplanets were rare and we now know they are extremely common and most stars have at least one planet orbiting," said NASA Astrophysics Division director Paul Hertz, via Express.
NASA New Planets: Are We Alone In the Universe?
The whole point of the Kepler mission is to answer one of science's mysterious questions regarding the existence of alien life. It also aims to discover if other planets can sustain life similar to humans. Discovering and eventually studying these exoplanets puts humans one step closer to finding the truth.
However, Science Alert cites that the Kepler mission is going to retire soon. It is projected to run out of fuel by 2018 and when it does, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) and James Webb Space Telescope will be taking over space probes. Learn more about the latest Kepler discovery in the video below:
