Three planets suitable for human habitation discovered

NASA’s Kepler space telescope has discovered three planets that may be able to support life, while one of them is the most earth-like world spotted to date, scientists say.

Two exoplanets have been discovered in their stars’ habitable zones, what is known as just the right range of distance where liquid water can exist on a planet’s surface.

Kepler-62f is a rocky world 1.4 times bigger than earth and circles a star smaller anddimmer than the sun. Its neighbor, Kepler-62e, is just 1.6 times larger than Earth. Both are the smallest exoplanets ever found in their stars’ habitable zones.

Both Kepler-62e and f, “look very good as possibilities for looking for life,” said Bill Borucki, the Kepler science principal investigator, of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffet Field, California.

The third potential earth-like planet identified by the scientists is Kepler-69c, standing at 1.7 times bigger than Earth and orbits a star similar to our own sun. Borucki said it represents a big step towards finding the first ever “alien earth”.

“We’re moving very rapidly towards finding an Earth analogue around a star like the sun,” Borucki told SPACE.com. Kepler-69c lies 2,700 light-years away in the Cyngusconstellation.

The Kelper-62 discovery paper, which is being led by Borucki, was published Thursday in the journal Science.

The three potentially habitable worlds are part of a larger find. Scientists unveiled a total of seven new exoplanets, five in the Kepler-62 system and two in Kepler-69.

The five newfound planets range from 0.54 to1.95 times the size of earth, but only Kepler-62e and f are potentially habitable.