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Tip of the Day
Keep eggs out of the fridge to save energy when cooking them
„Earth 2.0” does exist!
NASA scientists for the first time managed to confirm the existence of extrasolar planets present in the so-called ecosphere – the zone around the star where there are favorable conditions for the emergence of life, such as liquid water.
A unique planet could be seen through the telescope Kepler (a space based observatory) whose one of the tasks is to search for Earth-like extrasolar planets.
- This is a milestone on our way to finding Earth’s twin sister, said excited Douglas Hudgins of NASA.
The planet has been called Kepler-22b, it is 600 light-years far from Earth in the zones bordering the Cygnus and Lyra constellations. It circles its primary Sun-like star with an orbital period of 290 days. So far it is impossible to determine whether it’s composed of rocks, gases, or liquids.
Image by NASA (Kepler-22b compared to Earth)
Kepler Space Telescope captures a new planet by measuring the decrease in brightness of 150 thousand stars. Such a decline in the star’s brightness means that probably there was a transit, or passage of one celestial body (e.g. a space planet) through the disc of a second celestial body (it can be a star) – said Ian Ridpath of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Researchers decide whether a celestial body qualifies as a planet when they witness three transits.
Astrophysicists have discovered over 1000 candidates for planets so far. 10 of them resemble Earth in their dimensions and circle around Sun-like bodies, which means that they are placed in the ecosphere; but all are waiting for confirmation of whether they are planets or not.
Read the full story about Kepler 22-b on the NASA website
Source: NASA, APTN
Tags: Earth-like planet, ecoshpere, extrasolar, Kepler -22b, liquid water, NASA
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If this is true, another earth to exploit by the people……We’re so adept doing that!