NASA has taken a leap forward in the search for life on other planets after the largest discovery ever made by the US space agency. The Kepler space telescope has made it possible to identify 1,284 new planets outside the solar system, the number of which, the largest so far, is twice the number of planets existing beyond the solar system.
“This gives us new hope that out there, somewhere, around a sun similar to ours, we can discover a new Earth, ” explains Ellen Stofan of NASA to The Astrophysical Journal.
NASA reports that of the more than 1,000 new planets, 550 of them could be rocky, like Earth and 9 of them orbit in habitable zones of their respective stars (they are neither too close (excessively hot) nor too far (excessively cold). ), so they could harbor life.
Kepler, the tireless planet hunter
Using the Kepler data, which included a catalog of 4,305 potential worlds, the astronomers determined that 1,284 of them are more than 99% likely to actually be planets , that is, a percentage that confirms their existence. In addition, 1,327 other worlds could also be planets, but it is not possible to confirm this since they do not reach that minimum required to say that they are real planets. The remaining 707 worlds could represent other types of astrophysical objects that require further investigation.
Kepler, the planet hunter (launched in 2009), is again the protagonist of this discovery: “Thanks to Kepler and the research community, we now know that there could be more planets than stars. And this knowledge will serve to configure future missions that bring us closer and closer to finding out if we are alone in the Universe ”, comments Paul Hertz, director of NASA’s Astrophysics Division.
With these 9 planets, the number of candidates for habitable worlds located thanks to the fruitful Kepler, rises to 21. As of 2018, Kepler will retire and will be replaced by the James Webb telescope (longer range and located further from the Earth) that will be assisted by a much more advanced instrument: the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite.
