NASA's Kepler Mission Announces Latest Planetary Discovery

The Kepler mission's science team announced its latest finding at a press conference on Monday, Dec. 5, 2011. The team announced the confirmation of Kepler-22b, its first planet found in the "habitable zone," the region where liquid water could exist on a planet's surface. The planet is about 2.4 times the radius of Earth, orbits around a star similar to our sun and is located 600 light-years away. 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. The planet's host star belongs to the same class as our sun, called G-type, although it is slightly smaller and cooler.

Kepler also has discovered 1,094 new planet candidates, nearly doubling its previously known count. Since the last catalog was released in February, the number of planet candidates identified by Kepler has increased by 89 percent and now totals 2,326. Of these, 207 are approximately Earth-size, 680 are super Earth-size, 1,181 are Neptune-size, 203 are Jupiter-size and 55 are larger than Jupiter. The findings, based on observations conducted May 2009 to September 2010, show a dramatic increase in the numbers of smaller-size planet candidates.

[NASAAmes]

@xStealthXD...take a visit to our channel page and we've just uploaded a "highlights" video that mentions all the announcements and activities released by the Kepler team. The video clip is titled "NASA's Kepler Mission Announces Latest Discoveries".

Thanks for watching...NASA Ames.

[RCSVirginia]

Congratulations to the Keppler team. This is a great discovery, and I am sure that it is just one of many to come. Good luck to NASA!

[PhinofaPhish]

GREAT JOB, NATALIE. This is getting more interesting. People, just imagine, this is only one small speck of the Universe, in OUR galaxy.

[NASAAmes]

@ranoverbunny1...
1) The Kepler team has found a confirmed planet that's a big bigger than the Earth. Its orbit means the surface temperature could support water, which is considered a building-block for life.
2) The team has now found more than 2300 planet candidates...meaning the scientists think they are planets, but need more telescope time to confirm that fact.

Both of these are milestones in finding out how common Earth-size, possibly habitable planets are in our galaxy.

[NASAAmes]

Reminding you all of a few pertinent rules here that we use to moderate comments:

Please keep comments relevant. Irrelevant, inappropriate or offensive comments may be edited and/or deleted.

Stay on topic.

No personal attacks. Criticism of decision-making and operational management, including the names of the individuals involved, is legitimate. Criticism on a purely personal level is not.

No profanity. No spam. No sexually explicit or discriminatory material.

Thank you,
NASA Ames

[englishzuds]

I wish im alive when we find life... even if its a pic.

[sohels]

Let's just keep our earth safe plz

[NASAAmes]

@junfaa All of the images of Kepler planets are artists' concepts based on discussions with scientists.

[Spacecookie-]

This is the one big thing that I get truly excited about. Is there any update yet?

[BeadStallcup]

Their explanations are very clear. They have done their homework. Don't like gov't bureaucrats as a rule, but these folks are making good and honest statements about what they have discoveried. I'm pleased. Kepler 22b is a most remarkable planet.

[joman]

Everyone involved in Kepler deserves a pat on the back, great job guys!

[PoTaTeRsX]

One of the most important discoveries in human history and it only has 200k views??

[zeabreu]

This mission is just amazing the first census of our galaxy what exciting times we are living!

[KnocksX]

What an amazing group of people. I respect them so much. Wish my job was as useful as theirs.

[JerryFro]

We have already gained a huge amount of technology from spin-off projects related to past space programs. Such as GPS, better medicine and vaccines, solar energy, etc. The NASA Structural Analysis Program for example, or NASTRAN, is considered one of the most successful and widely-used NASA software programs. It has been used to design everything from Cadillacs to roller coaster rides.

[keplerconnection]

I was named after Kepler, this discover is amazing ... it seems like its just a great beginning !

[staszekgobi]

very informative data! exciting as hell!!!

[Supernova]

This is truly amazing. i hope the US gives the highest priority and and sufficient funding to the Kepler mission. Instead of spending millions of dollars on war and weapons of destruction we should be spending on advancing mankind with scientific projects such as this.

Who knows, 30-50 years from now we might even make some kind of radio contact with some species far away. The day something like that happens it will be a milestone for all of humankind in general.

[Brammersk]

@juki0h What we mean when we say light years is the refraction and time of light to pass our eyes. It is a measurement used to variate the distance of faraway stars and planets. If you search for 'Hubble Deep', It will show galaxies from what we call the 'deep zone' from where galaxies were almost firstly created. It was stated that it is the most 'Important picture in our lives'.

[JerryFro]

We have so much to gain from exploring space, along with technologies provided from it's endeavors. Plus, it helps to inspire countless individuals and future generations to the possibilites granted from funding scientific and research/development organizations like NASA