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First Habitable-zone Super-Earth Discovered In Orbit Around A Sun-like Star. Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech . First Habitable-zone Super-Earth Discovered In Orbit Around A Sun-like Star.
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First Habitable-zone Super-Earth Discovered In Orbit Around A Sun-like Star Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech
First Habitable-zone Super-Earth Discovered In Orbit Around A Sun-like Star A team of researchers has discovered what could be a large, rocky planet with a surface temperature of about 72 degrees Fahrenheit, comparable to a comfortable spring day on Earth. The discovery team used photometric data from the NASA Kepler space telescope, which monitors the brightness of 155,000 stars. Earth-size planets whose orbital planes are aligned such that they periodically pass in front of their stars result in tiny dimmings of their host star’s light--dimmings that can only be measured by a highly specialized space telescope like Kepler. http://carnegiescience.edu/news/first_habitablezone_superearth_discovered_orbit_around_sunlike_star