Allow me to digress briefly from the stated blog topic: any time I see NASA in the news, I always think of this graphic, which I find hysterical. (For more barrels of laughs, if you’re ever short on any, I recommend searching “NASA” on theonion.com)
Anyway, NASA HAS discovered something super cool – what the media is branding as Earth 2.0.
Kepler-22b (what a super unsexy name – these 12 year-old Brits can do way better) is the first planet to be discovered in the habitable zone of a “sun-like star”:
The newly confirmed planet, Kepler-22b, is the smallest yet found to orbit in the middle of the habitable zone of a star similar to our sun. The planet is about 2.4 times the radius of Earth. Scientists don’t yet know if Kepler-22b has a predominantly rocky, gaseous or liquid composition, but its discovery is a step closer to finding Earth-like planets.
Kepler-22b is located 600 light-years away. While the planet is larger than Earth, its orbit of 290 days around a sun-like star resembles that of our world. The planet’s host star belongs to the same class as our sun, called G-type, although it is slightly smaller and cooler.
Pause. Are you having thoughts of us getting into rocketships and jetting off? Because I kind of did.
So, no need to worry about global warming. Looks like our solution has been found… I jest, I jest (but can’t you hear a climate denier saying that?). This is an amazing discovery, and kudos to the team at NASA for their work!
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