NASA Kepler Mission Discovers 219 More Exoplanets; Includes 10 Earth-Size Planets [VIDEO]

Researchers announced at a news conference that NASA's Kepler Space Telescope has discovered new exoplanets. The Kepler mission catalog is being completed by the planets that now consist of 219 new planets. Wherein, 10 planets are close to Earth-size and they are orbiting their stars in the habitable zone.

NASA's Kepler Space Telescope newly found exoplanets could possibly host life. The habitable zone is another way to describe the distance from the star where liquid water is located on a rocky surface, which means it could support life, Fox 6 Now reported.

This most recent announcement of data will be added to the original Kepler mission catalog. However, the conference started last Saturday as part of exoplanet week and transpired at the Ames Research Center in California.

Although one of the exoplanets is the closest to Earth in size, researchers still need a detailed investigation and analysis of the planet. Nonetheless, program scientist Mario Perez stated that the Kepler data set is unique, which contains a population of near-Earth analogs, CNN reported.

Meanwhile, Kepler research scientist, Susan Thompson, stated that the Kepler mission has found amazing things. Kepler has shown people these terrestrial worlds, but scientists still have all the work to do to better understand how common Earths exist in the galaxy. Thompson also said that she is excited to witness what individuals are going to do with this catalog.

Nonetheless, since the Kepler mission started way back in 2009, the mission had helped scientists to identify thousands of alleged exoplanets, and researchers had confirmed that more than 2,000 of those are exoplanets. In addition, researchers have determined that 21 of these exoplanets are in the habitable zone, which could allow humans to survive or thrive.

In spite of that, four researchers were involved in examining the new discovery. People who are watching at home through NASA's live stream can ask questions on Twitter by using the hashtag #AskKepler.

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