Friday, April 18, 2014

Earth Meet Earth II? - WBAP News/Talk

(NEW YORK) -- Earth, welcome to your sort of doppelganger.

Kepler-186f is the latest discovery to excite astronomers since it seems to have the same characteristics of our world. And it's only 500 light years away with each light year being the equivalent of six trillion miles.

Spotted by the Kepler space telescope, scientists are calling Kepler-186f a "Goldilocks" planet, that is, it's neither too hot nor too cold and thus might actually be able to sustain life.

Lead researcher Elisa Quintana of NASA's Ames Research Center said at a news conference Thursday that Kepler-186f "is special because we already know that a planet of this size and in the habitable zone is capable of supporting life as we know it."

About 10 percent larger than Earth, Quintana says it's more like a cousin than twin because it revolves around a smaller star, meaning a year lasts only 130 days.

Also, there's probably a lot more carbon dioxide than Earth so breathing w! ithout a helmet might pose a bit of a problem should we ever wind up there.

Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio

Source : http://www.wbap.com/abc_news/article/Earth_Meet_Earth_II/87376339C6D811E3B51EFEFDADE6840A/1397811903/