NASA finds first planet in 'habitable zone'

Dec 6, 2011, 10:41 GMT

Washington - (dpa_ - NASA's Kepler mission on Monday confirmed finding its first planet in a 'habitable zone,' - the region around a star where a planet could potentially host life forms.

A habitable zone would contain liquid water and other elements essential to supporting potential extraterrestial life.

The newly-discovered planet, Kepler-22b, is the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a star similar to the Earth's sun. The planet has about 2.4 times the radius of Earth, but scientists do not yet know whether its surface is rocky, gaseous or liquid.

Previous research hinted at the existence of planets nearly the size of Earth in habitable zones, but scientists' efforts at confirmation have proved elusive.

'This is a major milestone on the road to finding Earth's twin,' said Douglas Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA headquarters in Washington.

'Kepler's results continue to demonstrate the importance of NASA's science missions, which aim to answer some of the biggest questions about our place in the universe.'

In an additional find, the mission located more than 1,000 new prospects that could turn out to be planets, although further research is required, NASA said. That number nearly doubled NASA's previous count, the organization said.

Ten of the candidates are nearly the same size as Earth, and orbit in the habitable zone of their host star.