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NASA's Kepler Mission has discovered three super earth-size planets orbiting
in the habitable zone of their stars.
The habitable zone is the distance from a star where the surface temperature of
an orbiting planet could be suitable for liquid water.
Each of the three new planets is less than twice the size of Earth.
About 360 light years from Earth,
2 of the newly discovered planets are in a 5 planet system called Kepler 62.
The host star is smaller and cooler than our Sun
and has three planets that orbit very close making them hot
inhospitable worlds. Farther away
are two planets in the habitable zone. Orbiting on the inner edge of the
habitable zone is Kepler 62 E
it is about 60 percent larger than the size of earth
and orbits every 122 days. The smallest of the habitable zone planets is called
Kepler 62
F it is forty percent larger in size than Earth
and is likely rocky a world. Kepler 62 F
orbits every 267 days. These two planets
are the smallest yet discovered in the habitable zone of another star.
Much farther away, about 2,700 light years from Earth,
is a two planets system around a star called Kepler 69
the stars the same type and very similar to our own son
although it is slightly smaller and cooler the inner planet Kepler 69 be
is 2.2 times the size of Earth and orbits every 13 days.
It is much hotter and closer to its star than the planet Mercury is to the Sun
the outer planet Kepler 69 C
is about 70 percent larger than Earth and orbits every 242 days.
It is the smallest planet found in the habitable zone of a sun-like star.
Managed by NASA ames research center the Kepler mission is using a space-based
telescope to search one part of the galaxy for potentially habitable planets
what scientists do not know if life could exist on the newfound habitable
zone planets
their discovery signals another step closer to finding a true Sun
Earth twin.