# Kepler-22b: Earth-like planet confirmed



## Jcgrey (Feb 5, 2011)

​ Source: *BBC*



> The planet, Kepler 22-b, lies about 600 light-years away and is about 2.4 times the size of Earth, and has a temperature of about 22C.
> 
> It is the closest confirmed planet yet to one like ours - an "Earth 2.0".
> 
> ...


Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16040655


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## OrbitalResonance (Sep 21, 2010)




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## Classified (Dec 7, 2004)

We need to build a big telescope on the backside of the Moon. And get the Webb one up there.


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## Syndacus (Aug 9, 2011)

If humans colonize this planet in the future, and they haven't learned from their mistakes here, they may as well just consume and destroy.


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## loquaciousintrovert (May 23, 2011)

Syndacus said:


> If humans colonize this planet in the future, and they haven't learned from their mistakes here, they may as well just consume and destroy.


It's not possible. It's too far away to even get to, let alone colonize.

I hope people realize that this earth is the only one we get, and act accordingly. *shakes head*


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## ShyGuy86 (Sep 17, 2011)

loquaciousintrovert said:


> I hope people realize that this earth is the only one we get, and act accordingly. *shakes head*


This is very true, but wanting to reach another planet does not necessarily mean the first one has been devastated. There's no reason why humanity shouldn't strive to cultivate and respect two (or more) planets. Granted, we should first learn to not destroy this one.

And although reaching earth-like extrasolar planets is certainly not easy, and faster-than-light speed is impossible, generational ships or sleeper ships _are_ an option.


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## Knowbody (Jul 5, 2011)

We could send a crew out there that would probably have to live on a spaceship for millions of years. 

people would be born on the ship, have kids, grow old, die and repeat until we finally land there. 

Lots of incest


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## OrbitalResonance (Sep 21, 2010)

Don't forget, the value system of our species could change by the time we are doing this.

I just did a paper on this, since this world is 2 times the mass of Earth it could have plate tectonics without any water to lubricate the process.

See, the bigger a planet is the more likely it is not not have a solid surface but a surface of volatiles. Imagine a global liquid ocean thousands of kilometers deep. The larger planet 3 times the mass of the earth has a much hotter interior, driving a very vigorous convection system that would make for some intense plate tectonics.


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## fanatic203 (Jun 23, 2010)

I heard about this! Awesome! Too bad we can't get there


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## Skip_DJ (Jan 30, 2010)

ooooOOOOO~


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## Marlon (Jun 27, 2011)

600 light years is _not_ that far away... that's actually very close.


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## OrbitalResonance (Sep 21, 2010)

Indeed it is!


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## Ivan AG (Sep 29, 2010)

Marlon said:


> 600 light years is _not_ that far away... that's actually very close.


Better start packing my luggage then.....


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## Einangra (Jul 28, 2010)

We can get there in a few weeks. Just let me find the keys to the Starship Enterprise....


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## Marlon (Jun 27, 2011)

Ivan AG said:


> Better start packing my luggage then.....


Sure, that's the kind of response for our currently technology.

However, if scientists ever develop ways for interstellar travel, 600 light years is right around the corner. I hope that will become possible in several hundred years!


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## alte (Sep 4, 2010)

22c, a very comfy temperature. How long before a spaceship is sent to explore it? Probably within the next 1000 years.


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## OrbitalResonance (Sep 21, 2010)

Probably not event that, there are millions of star systems that are even closer to explore.


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## alte (Sep 4, 2010)

It should make a decent target to send a ship to if the resemblance to earth bears out. It is likely one of the few earth like planets close to home.


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## OrbitalResonance (Sep 21, 2010)

At 600 light years out i disagree. We could probably find one within 75 lighyears when when world detection becomes easy and we are catalouging every star system. Our detections now are very hit and miss. Kepler is only looking at a very small space of the sky with a depth of thousands of lightyears. And then only the planets that happen to cross in front of the star. Less then 1% of planets in keplers vision will be identified.


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## In a Lonely Place (Mar 26, 2012)

*









NASA's Kepler Telescope Discovers First Earth-Size Planet in 'Habitable Zone'










Using NASA's Kepler Space Telescope, astronomers have discovered the first Earth-size planet orbiting a star in the "habitable zone" -- the range of distance from a star where liquid water might pool on the surface of an orbiting planet. The discovery of Kepler-186f confirms that planets the size of Earth exist in the habitable zone of stars other than our sun.

While planets have previously been found in the habitable zone, they are all at least 40 percent larger in size than Earth, and understanding their makeup is challenging. Kepler-186f is more reminiscent of Earth.

"The discovery of Kepler-186f is a significant step toward finding worlds like our planet Earth," said Paul Hertz, NASA's Astrophysics Division director at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "Future NASA missions, like the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and the James Webb Space Telescope, will discover the nearest rocky exoplanets and determine their composition and atmospheric conditions, continuing humankind's quest to find truly Earth-like worlds."

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-119

*​


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## Sacrieur (Jan 14, 2013)

inb4 supernova blew it to bits 200 years ago.


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## Arbre (Mar 9, 2014)

I wish we could send robots to these planets.


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## HabitableExoplanet (May 11, 2014)

And now we've discovered Kepler-186f; 490 light-years away with a mass 1.11 times that of the Sun, orbiting a red dwarf star half the size of the Sun. These planets may not be the best hope for colonization, but with several hundred Earth-size planets within the habitable zone of sun-like stars, it opens up the possibility of extraterrestrial life throughout the universe. An important discovery indeed.


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## HabitableExoplanet (May 11, 2014)

HabitableExoplanet said:


> And now we've discovered Kepler-186f; 490 light-years away with a mass 1.11 times that of the Sun, orbiting a red dwarf star half the size of the Sun. These planets may not be the best hope for colonization, but with several hundred Earth-size planets within the habitable zone of sun-like stars, it opens up the possibility of extraterrestrial life throughout the universe. An important discovery indeed.


Correction: 1.11 times the mass of the Earth.


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