Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
NARRATOR: NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed the discovery
of the first Earth-size planets outside our solar system
orbiting a sun-like star.
Located about 1,000 light years from Earth, the Kepler-20 solar system
has five planets orbiting a star similar to the Sun.
Kepler-20f, the 4th planet in the system,
orbits its star every 19.6 days
and has a surface temperature of 800 degrees Fahrenheit.
Kepler-20e has an orbital period of 6.1 days
and has a surface temperature of 14-hundred degrees Fahrenheit.
It is about 90 percent the size of Earth.
Kepler-20f is slightly larger than Earth,
with a radius that is 3 percent larger.
The extreme temperatures and proximity to their host star
means that the planets are not in the habitable zone,
the region where liquid water could exist on the surface.
These discoveries are a validation of the complex data analysis process
that the Kepler team is using to detect transits
of Earth-sized planets in front of their stars.
Scientists hope to eventually find Earth-size, habitable planets
with liquid water that could sustain life as we know it.
Kepler is on a three-and-a-half year mission
to search for Earth-size planets in our galaxy.
(Electronic sounds of data) (Musical tones)