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1,284 planets added
Sifting through data from NASA's Kepler space telescope, scientists said Tuesday they've confirmed the existence of 1,284 planets orbiting other stars.
The announcement more than doubles the number of validated planets discovered by the planet-hunting spacecraft, bringing the total number to about 2,325.
This bumper crop of new worlds features a host of super-Earths and mini-Neptunes. Perhaps most striking, the new census includes nine worlds that could be rocky and Earthlike and orbit their host stars in the so-called habitable zone, where temperatures would allow water to be stable in liquid form.
'This gives us hope that somewhere out there, around a star much like ours, we can eventually discover another Earth,” NASA chief scientist Ellen Stofan said in a statement.
(File Photo) Kepler-186f, the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit a distant star in the habitable zoneóa range of distance from a star where liquid water might pool on the planet's surface, is seen in a NASA artist's concept. REUTERS/NASA
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