NASA Astronomer Finds First Earth-Sized Planet In Habitable Zone

NASA Astronomer Finds First Earth-Sized Planet In Habitable Zone

The search for a new Earth outside the solar system seems to be nearing its end. NASA’s Ames Research Center astronomer Thomas Barclay has found a planet nearly the size of Earth in the habitable zone of a star in the Milky Way.

Barclay’s announcement at the Search for Life Beyond the Solar System conference hasn’t been officially published yet, so the details are scarce. We know that:

1. It’s an M1 red dwarf star (maybe we should call it Krypton.)

2. It’s a goldilocks planet, orbiting within the zone where liquid water (and life) can exist.

3. It’s radius is only 1.1 times the size of Earth. Until now the minimum size for a new Earth candidate was 1.4 times — Kepler-62f, which orbits a star about 1,200 light years away from us.

4. At least five other planets are orbiting this red dwarf.

I can’t wait for that new telescope starshade that will let us take actual photos of these new worlds.


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.