Discovered in the Milky Way more than 100 planets like Earth, 9 possibilities of life – BBC World

Image copyright NASA

Image caption Scientists estimate that the Milky Way there are about 10,000 million potentially habitable planets .

The Kepler telescope NASA has been busy.

In what is considered the biggest announcement about exoplanets new, NASA announced that it now has more than 100 that are the size of our Earth.

it also found nine small celestial bodies that revolve around a star, where conditions are favorable for there is liquid water and possibly life .

in total, added to the catalog other planets than 1,284 not known until now.

the data supplied by the spacecraft Kepler allow astronomers to understand how they can be planets that are similar to our

And for those who think they are alone in the universe, a fact. according to the calculations of experts NASA in our Milky Way could be more than 10,000 million potentially habitable planets .

Image copyright NASA

Image caption the Kepler telescope is helping astronomers understand how are the other planets like ours .

“About 24% of stars host planets 1.6 times smaller than the Earth,” said Dr. Natalie Batalha, Kepler mission scientist at the Center NASA Ames in California, United States.

research “ This is a figure that we like, because we believe that is below that size planets may be rocky ” .

“If you wonder where she might be the next habitable planet, is about 11 light years, which is pretty close,” he said.

future telescopes such as the James Webb , may examine the light that filters through the atmospheres of exoplanets to find biomarkers.

“the ultimate goal of our research is to detect the light of a habitable exoplanet and analyzed to detect gases such as water vapor, oxygen, methane and carbon dioxide, gases that may indicate the presence of a biological ecosystem, “he said for his part Paul Hertz, director of astrophysics at NASA

from the discoveries that. telescope has done so far, the Kepler-186F and Kepler-452b planets are the most similar to Earth in terms of size, temperature of the star (sun) and the energy it receives from it .

Image copyright NASA

Image caption the method to detect planets in distant stars the same used to see Mercury when it passes in front of the sun.

According Batalha, the new planets Kepler 1638b and Kepler-1229b are fascinating targets for the search for habitable planets.

“Being able to look at a point of light and say ‘that star have a living world orbiting’ is something very deep and answers questions about why we are here. “

Dr. Timothy Morton, of Princeton university in New Jersey, reported that the vast majority of exoplanets discovered by Kepler were in the category of super-Earth (with 1, 2 and 1.9 larger than the radius of our planet) and sub-Neptune (1.9 and 3.1 larger than the radius of the Earth).

Kepler uses transit method to detect planets orbiting other stars .

This involves measuring the slight dimming of the light of a star as an orbiting planet passes between it and Earth.

this is the same phenomenon that occurred this week when Mercury passed in front of the sun.