Stellary Starry Universe

With NASA's Kepler spacecraft discovering alien worlds at a record pace, it seems to be just a matter of time before an Earth-sized planet is found in the "Goldilocks zone"–that is, in an orbit sized just right for liquid water and life. In today's story from Science@NASA, researchers discuss how they'll explore a cousin of Earth many light years away.

NASA's Kepler spacecraft has discovered the tiniest solar system so far, composed of a red dwarf star with three rocky planets smaller than Earth.

NASA's Kepler spacecraft has found two Earth-sized planets orbiting a distant sun-like star. These alien worlds are intermingled in their star system with other much larger planets, an arrangement which challenges orthodox ideas of how planets are formed.

NASA will host a news teleconference at 1 p.m. EST, Tuesday, Dec. 20, announcing new discoveries by the Kepler mission.

In a significant milestone on the road to finding Earth's "twin" elsewhere in the galaxy, NASA's Kepler mission has confirmed its first planet in the habitable zone of a distant Sun-like star.