NASA’s Kepler Telescope spotted another world, but this one is close to Earth and has the potential to hold liquid water.
Image: NASA
The rocky planet Kepler-186f is a little bit bigger than our planet, is part of a five-planet system and orbits around a cool dwarf star.
The new world could hold liquid water because its orbiting star is not too close to boil the liquid nor too far out that it would freeze, explained researchers to BBC.
According to Professor Stephen Kane, an astrophysicist, the planet is the most similar to Earth found to date both in terms of size and the amount of energy it receives from its star. "If you could stand on the surface of Kepler-186f, the brightness of its star at high noon would appear as bright as our sun is about an hour before sunset on Earth," announced NASA in a statement.
Although Kepler-186f has water, an essential ingredient for life, so far there is no indication of life forms on the planet. It is believed that given the erratic behaviour of small stars, such as the one this world orbits, any potential organisms could be bombarded with solar flares.
But located a mere 500 light-years away from Earth, this rocky planet could still surprise us.
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