In reviewing data from the Kepler Telescope, NASA spotted an exoplanet a bit larger than the Earth, but strikingly similar otherwise.

According to BBC News, mission scientists called Kepler-452b the "closest so far" to Earth in terms of characteristics.

"On the 20th anniversary year of the discovery that proved other suns host planets, the Kepler exoplanet explorer has discovered a planet and star which most closely resemble the Earth and our Sun," John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington D.C., said in a press release. "This exciting result brings us one step closer to finding an Earth 2.0."

The newly identified planet's radius is 60 percent greater than Earth's, but it still orbits its host star, which is about four percent more massive and 10 percent brighter than our own, at just about the same distance.

"I do believe the properties described for Kepler-452b are the most Earth-like I've come across for a confirmed planet to date," Suzanne Aigrain, a researcher at the University of Oxford not involved in the study, told BBC News. "What seems even more significant to me is the number of planets in the habitable zone of their host stars with radii below two Earth radii; 12 is quite a few compared to the pre-existing Kepler planet catalogue.

"It bodes well for their attempts to provide a more robust measure of the incidence of Earth-like planets, which is the top-level goal of the Kepler mission."

NASA scientists sifted through about 500 bodies Kepler sighted, but determined 452b to be the only confirmed planet, BBC News noted.

"We can think of Kepler-452b as an older, bigger cousin to Earth, providing an opportunity to understand and reflect upon Earth's evolving environment," Jon Jenkins, Kepler data analysis lead at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., said in the release. "It's awe-inspiring to consider that this planet has spent 6 billion years in the habitable zone of its star; longer than Earth. That's substantial opportunity for life to arise, should all the necessary ingredients and conditions for life exist on this planet."