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<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div>Relative sizes of Kepler habitable zone planets discovered as of April 18, 2013. Left to right: Kepler-22b, Kepler-69c, Kepler-62e, Kepler-62f, and <keyword id="6359982" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="earth">Earth</keyword>.</div>Every day, astronomers, with the help of <keyword id="6360409" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="NASA">NASA</keyword>'s Kepler telescope, get closer and closer to finding more planets like our Earth that circle stars like our sun.
On Thursday, researchers announced the discovery of two new planetary systems, each which contain planets that circle a star similar to our sun, and within a distance that would allow that planet to support liquid water, also known as the "habitable zone." 
"With all of these discoveries we're finding, Earth is looking less and less like a special place and more like there's Earth-like things everywhere," said Tom Barclay, Kepler scientist at the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute in Sonoma, California, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/18/us/planet-discovery/">according to CNN's Elizabeth Landau</a>. 
The "habitable" zone means that a planet is not too close to its host star that liquid water would boil away, and not too far that liquid water would freeze. It is in the perfect spot between fire and ice, William Borucki, Kepler's principal <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> investigator, said at a news conference on Thursday.
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/earth-sized-planets-with-water-2013-4">Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f were found in a five-planet system</a>, all of which circle a star called Kepler-62. Kepler-62 is about 1,200 light years away from us.
Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f are somewhat bigger than Earth (they are known as super-Earths), but scientists say they are the best planet candidates for habitability found yet because of their size. Past candidates have been much bigger than Earth. 
Another newly discovered two planet-system, which circles a sun-like star called Kepler-69, includes one planet that orbits in the habitable zone. Kepler-69c is even bigger than Kepler-62e and Kepler-62f, however. 
Scientists don't know what kind of life is on these planets or even their exact composition — they could be rocky and Mars-like — but it does mean that we are well on the way to finding more planets like our own. 
These planets could hold alien species, or be habitable for colonies of humans. It's too early to tell.

Earth Isn't So Special Anymore

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/esoastronomy/8095438809/in/photolist-dkneVc-ecEJt7-8xpVHF-9vbE2t-5eg7KE-jj7Bd4-7ZpUgZ-5efqME-oTUQG3-8rJbgu-cmawjm-r4Fdv9-2V7CtM-qPKxHT-7LLQnX-rqevLJ-s1BD7P-rP2wMC-rj3YAy-rZTX4v-fxVQci-qvPrBA-rMC8YE-ifT3a2-qJ32MJ-sdksgb-dMpYGX-r7tAiM-rmDYdf-rrQS7B-rG16j3-rJhQRi-rJcLsV-rBXbi1-rE8ZZh-qHsthZ-ruQ2wU-rnFwS7-rwHvce-qSnUsV-rP5Ws8-rZQNr9-ruQ4bL-rBhHQy-ri4ZSx-qPxt6w-si9eYg-rUjTAK-rMizAp-r9dwym">European Southern Observatory on Flickr</a></div></div></div>Humans have explored only a tiny, tiny fraction of the universe, so we can't rule out the possibility objects exist out there that we haven't seen yet - even giant planets right in our backyard.You can divvy up the Solar System into four parts: the inner rocky planets, the Asteroid Belt, the gas giants, and a huge cluster of small icy bodies called the Kuiper Belt. Some of those icy chunks in the Kuiper Belt are big enough to count as dwarf planets (like Pluto and Eris).Now scientists think something bigger - perhaps four times bigger than Earth - is lurking out there, just beyond the Kuiper Belt. "I think there are definitely things out there bigger than Pluto that are yet to be discovered," Scott Sheppard, an astronomer at the Carnegie Institution, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/09/03/is-there-a-planet-x-a-massive-perturber-hidden-beyond-pluto/">told the Washington Post</a>.Sheppard worked on a paper published in the <a href="http://www.nature.com/articles/nature13156.epdf?referrer_access_token=EV2tbhmU6yKnWVGmXr1PsdRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0MR4M95y5cI5IA6NAQnvnEYdf_z4oQluYFbQcQer54Cp2NdxQy7KgJlSK1x8zUpgsoYJmij7eVra_86SW2-xv7r8dvLUkvd8imImZ0u6HnnttRc2WU55jFNRc2laA-aU_h6B3SaSMmAJ4ZiZx73QEMTu1e0XfrcyOlP3y-2gwjSkHiqR8srGBWt3nGs19kGvVij5wBDN08f8-yLUA4hWK3fwT8ueEBnbjZmhJGR1n1Li3eG9bnhKFQjKYSlvxxowL8%3D&amp;tracking_referrer=www.washingtonpost.com">journal Nature</a> in 2014 that describes the discovery a mystery object on the fringe of the Kuiper Belt. The astronomers nicknamed it "Biden." It's no bigger than a dwarf planet, and they estimate that it's three times the distance that Pluto is from Earth, or roughly 9 billion miles away. In fact, there's evidence that quite a few of these mystery objects, none of them larger than a dwarf planet, drifting at the fringes of the Kuiper Belt, according to the paper. And they aren't just randomly floating around out there: They all appear to follow a similar orbital pattern, albeit a really strange one.This means it's possible some especially large, really distant planet - called a "perturber" in Sheppard's study - is massive enough that its gravity can tug Biden and the other mystery objects into a similar path through space. Unlike Biden, the "perturber" could be four times the size of Earth.If this giant "Planet X" exists, we probably haven't spotted it because it's so far away. At such a great distance it would appear 200 times fainter than the Sun appears from Earth. Or there might be some entirely different explanation for why those mystery objects appear to have the same orbital pattern. The bottom line is that the researchers don't know enough yet.The researchers based their observations on only 12 of these outer Kuiper Belt objects, and the orbital pattern they appear to follow might vanish with future observations. In other words, it might just be a coincidence they all seem to follow a similar path.Since Sheppard first announced distant objects in 2014, however, he's found more - and they, too, follow the same pattern. So that's more evidence that "Planet X" does exist. Of course we won't know for sure until someone spots it, but right now it seems like the most plausible explanation."There is a not insignificant chance that there are Earth-mass or larger objects yet to be discovered in the outer solar system," Mike Brown, the astronomer who discovered dwarf planet Eris, told the Washington Post. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/submersible-roving-laboratory-seaorbiter-2015-8">This spaceship for the ocean will allow scientists to go into uncharted waters</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="o1bXN4djpE2aZLiEBoYwuu-_RgNJs2CC" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

There may be new evidence of a mysterious 'Planet X' hiding beyond Pluto

<ul><li>Scientists at the <keyword id="188953" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Physical-Research-Laboratory">Physical Research Laboratory</keyword> at <keyword id="6358064" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="isro">ISRO</keyword> have been observing EPIC 211945201b for over a year now. </li><li>The planet is 27 times the mass of Earth and has six times the radius, while being located over 600 light years away. </li><li>It orbits its own parent sun, but completes a revolution in 19.5 days. </li></ul>It’s six times bigger than the Earth and over 600 light years away, and it’s one of the most ‘epic’ <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/isros-prl-scientists-discover-an-epic-planet/article24127772.ece">discoveries</a> made by the <keyword id="116095" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Space-Research-Organisation">Indian Space Research Organisation</keyword> (ISRO). Christened the EPIC 211945201b, the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in <keyword id="5065" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ahmedabad">Ahmedabad</keyword> not only found a new planet in the deep recesses of space but was also able to measure its mass. There are only a <a href="https://www.fromthegrapevine.com/innovation/nasa-earth-scientists-discover-20-new-habitable-planets">handful</a> of nations that have the capability to explore regions so far away, let alone discover entirely new planets. What’s so EPIC anyway? The PRL Advance Radial-Velocity Abu-Sky Search (<a href="https://www.isro.gov.in/mount-abu-infrared-observatory-miro-unveiling-universe">PARAS</a>), India’s first telescope designed specifically to make infrared observations, stumbled upon the exoplanet after <keyword id="6360409" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nasa">NASA</keyword>’s K2, a space observatory, picked up an anomaly in the brightness of one of the stars on its radar. They decided to explore the possibility of an exoplanet ‘transiting’ around the star that K2 had spotted. Exoplanets transiting around a star often lead to the star’s brightness changing. And thus, the 1.2m telescope, <keyword id="47495" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Paras">PARAS</keyword>, was put to use from the Gurushikhar Observatory in <keyword id="53955" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mount-Abu">Mount Abu</keyword>, Rajasthan. The planet is a little bigger than Neptune but slightly smaller than Saturn. Just like the Earth, it orbits a central star but unlike our little blue planet, it burns at around 600°C. It takes only 19.5 days for the planet to complete one revolution around its parent star, EPIC 211945201 (or K2-236). That means it takes less than a month for the planet to complete, what would technically be, an Earth ‘year’. This measurement of mass, surface temperature and atmospheric conditions are only possible because PARAS doesn’t measure distances solely based on light. Rather, the telescope picks up the entire electromagnetic spectrum so that there’s a treasure trove of data to analyse. Using that data, PRL scientists who’ve been observing the planet for over a year now, claim that ice, iron and other heavy elements account for 60-70% of the planet’s mass. And the mass of the planet itself is 27 times that of the Earth. Though unique in its own way, this ‘epic’ planet is one of 22 other confirmed exoplanet systems with the same dimensions. Furthermore, it’s one of billions that’s currently uninhabited. Nonetheless, it could hold the key towards understanding how planetary systems are formed.

India’s top space agency discovers an EPIC planet 600-light years away

<div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"></div><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/images/tiny-planet-kepler-37b.html">NASA</a>The artist's concept depicts the new planet dubbed Kepler-37b.</div>A new planet named Kepler-37b is just slightly bigger than Earth's moon. It's the tiniest planet yet to be found circling around a star like our sun in a newly discovered planetary system called Kepler-37, <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/news/kepler-37b.html">according to NASA.</a> 
The system is about 210 light-years from our planet. 
Kepler-37b, about one-third the size of Earth, is one of two other planets found in a region within the planetary system where liquid water might exist. This is also known as a "habitable zone" since water is needed to support life. 
Kepler-37c is three-quarters the size of Earth and Kepler-37d, the farthest planet, is twice the size of Earth. 
Although the star in Kepler-37 is like our sun, "all three planets orbit the star at less than the distance Mercury is to the sun, suggesting they are very hot, inhospitable worlds," <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/news/kepler-37b.html">NASA wrote in a press release</a>.
Astronomers think tiny Kepler-37b is mostly rocky and has a blistering surface temperature of around 800 degrees Fahrenheit. It also doesn't have an atmosphere, meaning it can't support life as we know it.
<div class="image-container click-to-enlarge" style="width:618px"><div class="image"><a title_source="NASA" title_caption="This line up compares the smallest known planet to the moon and planets in the solar system." class="zoomin" href="http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/5125248f6bb3f7ba05000002-960/nasa-8.jpg"></a></div><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/kepler/multimedia/images/kepler-37-lineup.html">NASA</a>This line up compares the smallest known planet to the moon and planets in the solar system.</div>

Astronomers Find Tiniest Planet Ever 

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>To find the most alien environments and otherworldly life imaginable, we just need to look at the oceans that cover <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/oceanwater.html">more than 70%</a> of our planet.The upcoming <a href="http://www.bbcearth.com/blueplanet2/">BBC Earth documentary series Blue Planet II</a>&#xa0;will likely provide a breathtaking look at that underwater world - and you can watch an introductory video for the series now&#xa0;(the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_38JDGnr0vA&amp;feature=youtu.be">YouTube video</a>&#xa0;is embedded below).The prequel video features new music by Radiohead and Hans Zimmer, along with footage that won't be available anywhere else - not even on the episodes of the show.Check it out:Pretty stunning, right?The original "Blue Planet" aired in 2001 and is still one of the most fascinating nature documentaries you can find (it's on our list of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/best-science-documentaries-movies-shows-netflix-2017-5">best science documentaries available to watch on Netflix</a>).But as narrator Sir David Attenborough - the famed voice of "Blue Planet," "Life," and "Planet Earth" - says in the video above: "A generation ago, the series 'The Blue Planet' took us beneath the waves. But now we know so much more ... New <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> and new technology allow us to voyage further and deeper than ever before."The journey in this short video alone is impressive,&#xa0;with footage of newly hatched turtles clambering towards the sea, dolphins jumping above waves, and deep-water creatures that exist&#xa0;in places&#xa0;sunlight never penetrates."The fact that this TV series is coming out at the moment - I hope - rekindles our love of the oceans and our desire to understand really our relationship to them, it's one of like, this is bigger than you, bigger than you," Radiohead singer Thom Yorke&#xa0;says&#xa0;in&#xa0;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3ia8mn8ITs&amp;feature=youtu.be">another video</a>. In that, he discusses&#xa0;the song playing in the prequel, called "(ocean) bloom," a collaboration between Radiohead and Hans Zimmer.Blue Planet II will be comprised of seven episodes. There's no official premiere date yet, but it'll air on BBC One in the UK later this year and on BBC America in 2018.<div></div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/dead-zones-threaten-coral-reefs-worldwide-ocean-smithsonian-tropical-research-institute-2017-3">Ocean 'dead zones' exist - and there are more of them than scientists thought</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

The best ocean documentary series ever made is coming back - and released a video featuring new music by Radiohead

<ul><li>In a rare event, two asteroids are going to whiz past Earth within hours of each other. </li><li>They’re not the biggest objects on the Asteroid Watch List but they’re two of the closest asteroids to pass by the planet.</li><li>Asteroid 2019 OU1 will be a mere 1 million kilometers from the Earth’s core as it flies past Earth.</li></ul>Asteroids whiz past Earth on a regular basis but it’s rare to see two of them gunning for the planet on the same day. <a href="https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2019%20QS">2019 QS</a> will be the first asteroid to make an appearance today and it’s around the same size as Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio De Janeiro or the Japan Tsunamis that stretched to 40 meters high. It will be followed by another asteroid dubbed <a href="https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2019%20OU1">2019 OU1</a>, which is over twice the size of its partner — making it almost as big as a football field at 98 meters. Both of them are going to flying past Earth within a couple of hours of each other. Neither of these two asteroids are as huge some others which are going to fly past the planet this year. But, they’re still on National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) <a href="https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/ca/">Asteroid Watch List</a> of <keyword id="3106647" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="near-earth-objects">Near Earth Objects</keyword> (NEOs) that could pose a risk to the planet. That’s because they’re going to be flying in particularly close. It’s about the distance Most asteroids, regardless of size, are normally at least 3 million kilometers to the Earth’s core as they fly past. But 2019 QS, on the other hand, will come as close as 2 million kilometers. And, 2019 OU1 will be even closer — merely 1 million kilometers away. According to NASA’s Asteroid Watch, any NEO that’s within 7.5 million kilometers of Earth could be ‘potentially hazardous’. When space objects fly this close to the Earth, if external or internal factors were to change their trajectory even to a small degree — they could <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/a-city-killer-asteroid-got-scarily-close-to-earth-yesterday-and-astronomers-didnt-know-about-it-until-it-was-just-days-away/articleshow/70404032.cms">collide </a>with the planet. The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/Astronomers-Are-Planning-Dramatic-Ways-To-Stop-An-Asteroid-Collision/articleshow/21343800.cms">Yarkovsky effect</a>, for instance, is the simple result of sunlight pushing an asteroid and changing the way that it rotates. A gravitational keyhole — gravity from other objects or planets in space — is another factor that could cause asteroids to change direction. The bigger the asteroid, the bigger the risk — like the asteroid that nearly <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/an-asteroid-nearly-half-the-size-of-mount-everest-might-be-on-a-collision-course-for-earth-in-less-than-a-year/articleshow/70698774.cms">half the size of Mount Everest and might be on a collision course for Earth in less than a year.</a> See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/what-happens-when-an-asteroid-actually-hits-earth/articleshow/70732006.cms">What happens when an asteroid actually hits Earth</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/what-is-asteroid-meteorite-and-meteor/articleshow/70654013.cms">An asteroid only turns into a meteor if it falls to Earth</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/the-last-major-asteroid-to-hit-earth-destroyed-500-square-kilometers-and-it-could-have-been-much-worse/articleshow/70782507.cms">The last major asteroid to hit Earth destroyed 500 square kilometers — and it could have been much worse</a>

Two asteroids bigger than the Japan tsunamis are coming eerily close to Earth today

<ul><li>Clues found in Canadian rocks indicate that a <keyword id="132391" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="mass-extinction">mass extinction</keyword> bigger than the dinosaurs dying 65 million years might have taken place on Earth.</li><li>During that time, Earth lost nearly two-thirds of its plant and animal species.</li><li>The extinction made way for larger animals to thrive as smaller microorganisms died off.</li></ul>An asteroid striking Earth and spelling disaster for the dinosaurs is the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/A-surprising-factor-in-the-extinction-of-the-dinosaurs-may-have-been-how-long-their-eggs-took-to-hatch/articleshow/56302718.cms">largest mass extinction</a> event known to man — but that might no longer be the case. Rocks found in Canada indicate that there might have been an even larger mass extinction before the end of the dinosaurs. And, it eliminated two-thirds of plant and animal life on Earth 2 billion years ago. Instead of a complex life, scientists believe that the mass extinction largely included microorganisms that built the Earth’s atmosphere. This had <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/how-dinosaurs-took-over-the-world/articleshow/65249281.cms">made way for larger animals</a> to thrive. “This shows that even when biology on Earth is comprised entirely of microbes, you can still have what could be considered an enormous die-off event that otherwise is not recorded in the fossil record,” said Malcolm Hodgskiss, co-lead author of a new study published in <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/08/06/1900325116">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.</a> Looking beyond fossils When looking for microorganisms that existed nearly 2 billion years ago, fossils can’t help. Instead, the scientists when looking for clues in mud and rocks. They found barite crystals in the Belcher Islands of Canada’s Hudson Bay that showed a record of oxygen in the atmosphere. And, 2.05 billion years ago there were huge changes in the biosphere where the planet was filled with living organisms — and then it wasn’t. Too little or too much oxygen The phenomenon also supports the theory of ‘<keyword id="8041123" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="oxygen-overshoot">oxygen overshoot</keyword>’. As per its stipulates, photosynthesis from ancient microorganisms and eroding rocks created a lot of oxygen that eventually ran out. The same oxygen omitting organisms exhausted their nutrient supply and died. Today, the oxygen consumed and exhausted within the planet, more or less, balances out. But knowing how an ‘oxygen overshoot’ plays out helps scientists determine what would happen if Earth were to have too much or too little oxygen within its atmosphere. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/asteroid-hitting-earth-and-ending-life-has-to-be-bigger-than-the-one-that-killed-dinosaurs/articleshow/70893317.cms">For an asteroid to wipe out humans, it has to be bigger than the one that killed the dinosaurs</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/penguins-as-big-as-humans-survived-whatever-killed-the-dinosaurs-as-per-fossils-in-new-zealand/articleshow/70731237.cms">Penguins as big as humans survived whatever killed the dinosaurs — as per fossils in New Zealand</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/how-dinosaurs-took-over-the-world/articleshow/65249281.cms">How dinosaurs took over the world</a>

Dinosaurs dying off might not have be been the biggest mass extinction on Earth

Using data from <keyword id="6360409" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="nasa" source="Orion">NASA</keyword>'s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, scientists have identified an <keyword id="6359982" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="earth" source="Orion">Earth</keyword>-size world, called TOI 700 e, orbiting within the habitable zone of its star, the range of distances where liquid water could occur on a planet's surface. The world is 95% Earth's size and likely rocky. Astronomers previously discovered three planets in this system, called TOI 700 b, c, and d. Planet d also orbits in the habitable zone. But scientists needed an additional year of <keyword id="1631115" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="tess" source="Orion">TESS</keyword> observations to discover TOI 700 e. "This is one of only a few systems with multiple, small, habitable-zone planets that we know of," said Emily <keyword id="374990" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="gilbert" source="Orion">Gilbert</keyword>, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California who led the work. "That makes the TOI 700 system an exciting prospect for additional follow up. Planet e is about 10% smaller than planet d, so the system also shows how additional TESS observations help us find smaller and smaller worlds." Gilbert presented the result on behalf of her team at the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Association in Seattle. A paper about the newly discovered planet was accepted by The Astrophysical Journal Letters. TOI 700 is a small, cool M dwarf star located around 100 light-years away in the southern constellation Dorado. In 2020, Gilbert and others announced the discovery of the Earth-size, habitable-zone planet d, which is on a 37-day orbit, along with two other worlds. The innermost planet, TOI 700 b, is about 90% Earth's size and orbits the star every 10 days. TOI 700 c is over 2.5 times bigger than Earth and completes an orbit every 16 days. The planets are probably tidally locked, which means they spin only once per orbit such that one side always faces the star, just as one side of the <keyword id="42440" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="moon" source="Orion">Moon</keyword> is always turned toward Earth. TESS monitors large swaths of the sky, called sectors, for approximately 27 days at a time. These long stares allow the satellite to track changes in stellar brightness caused by a planet crossing in front of its star from our perspective, an event called a transit. The mission used this strategy to observe the southern sky starting in 2018, before turning to the northern sky. In 2020, it returned to the southern sky for additional observations. The extra year of data allowed the team to refine the original planet sizes, which are about 10% smaller than initial calculations. "If the star was a little closer or the planet a little bigger, we might have been able to spot TOI 700 e in the first year of TESS data," said Ben Hord, a doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland, College Park and a graduate researcher at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "But the signal was so faint that we needed the additional year of transit observations to identify it." TOI 700 e, which may also be tidally locked, takes 28 days to orbit its star, placing planet e between planets c and d in the so-called optimistic habitable zone. Scientists define the optimistic habitable zone as the range of distances from a star where liquid surface water could be present at some point in a planet's history. This area extends to either side of the conservative habitable zone, the range where researchers hypothesize liquid water could exist over most of the planet's lifetime. TOI 700 d orbits in this region. Finding other systems with Earth-size worlds in this region helps planetary scientists learn more about the history of our own solar system. Follow-up study of the TOI 700 system with space- and ground-based observatories is ongoing, Gilbert said, and may yield further insights into this rare system. "TESS just completed its second year of northern sky observations," said Allison Youngblood, a research astrophysicist and the TESS deputy project scientist at Goddard. "We're looking forward to the other exciting discoveries hidden in the mission's treasure trove of data." SEE ALSO: <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/sustainability/news/dump-and-donate-month-long-e-waste-collection-drive-across-120-cities-launched/articleshow/96887056.cms">Dump and donate: Month long e-waste collection drive across 120 cities launched</a> <a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/telecom/news/tariff-hike-led-growth-5g-key-events-for-telecom-in-2023-decisive-year-for-vil-clsa/articleshow/96886908.cms">Tariff hike-led growth, 5G key events for telecom in 2023, decisive year for VIL: CLSA</a>

A second Earth-sized world orbiting a dwarf star discovered by scientists

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Astronomers have <a href="https://www.mpg.de/14901977/exoplanet-sunlike-host-star">discovered</a> a potentially <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/water-vapor-on-potentially-habitable-super-earth-exoplanet-2019-9">habitable exoplanet</a> and its <keyword id="6355599" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="star">star</keyword> that are strikingly similar to the Earth and the <keyword id="24879" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sun">sun</keyword>.</li><li>The planet is less than double the size of Earth. The star it orbits is about the size of the sun and emits visible light.</li><li>The system is about 3,000 light-years away from our solar system. Future <keyword id="41531" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="space">space</keyword> telescopes could someday study it in more detail.</li></ul>Scientists have found a potentially habitable exoplanet and its star that are more similar to the Earth and our sun than any other known planet-star pair.The planet — which is still considered a planet candidate until further confirmation — is the right distance from its star to allow for the presence of liquid surface water. That means it could potentially <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-reveals-new-exoplanet-liquid-water-host-life-2020-1">host life</a>. The Earth-like world is about 1.9 times the size of our planet."It's the combination of this less-than-double the size of the Earth planet and its solar type host star that make it so special and familiar," Dr. René Heller, the lead author of the new study, said in a <a href="https://www.mpg.de/14901977/exoplanet-sunlike-host-star">press </a><a href="https://www.mpg.de/14901977/exoplanet-sunlike-host-star">release</a>. Her team at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research described the planet and star in a paper <a href="https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/pdf/2020/06/aa36929-19.pdf">published</a> last week in the journal Astronomy &amp; Astrophysics.For now, the <a href="https://www.mpg.de/14901977/exoplanet-sunlike-host-star">planet candidate is known as KOI-456.04</a>. If its existence is <a href="https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/news/1524/how-do-you-find-and-confirm-a-planet-10-things-about-the-search-for-exoplanets/">confirmed</a> by other telescopes, the exoplanet would join a group of about 4,000 known planets outside our solar system.Other research had previously found that the star this Earth-like planet candidate orbits, called Kepler-160, has two planets circling it. But the new study revealed two additional ones. <div type="image" title="earth like exoplanets" height="1080" width="1920" msid="76290902" hostid="261"></div><h2>What makes an exoplanet habitable</h2>To be considered habitable, planets must orbit a stable star at a distance that maintains a temperature suitable for liquid water.The Milky Way galaxy could <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/10-billion-earth-like-planets-in-milky-way-galaxy-2019-8">hold up to 10 billion</a> Earth-like planets, some estimates suggest, but only about 4,000 have been identified.The vast majority of <keyword id="122247" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Exoplanets">exoplanets</keyword> don't meet the conditions required for life to exist. Most of the potentially habitable worlds researchers have found orbit red dwarf stars, which aren't stable enough. Red dwarf stars are smaller and fainter than the sun, and emit infrared radiation. They also sometimes send out high-energy flares that can fry the planets around them.Of the known exoplanets that do orbit a sun-like star, most are much bigger than Earth — usually about the size of Neptune (four times Earth's size). These larger planets tend to trap too much hydrogen in their atmospheres, and such <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-juno-probe-at-jupiter-new-photos-2018-7">gas giants</a> don't sustain liquid water.<h2>This new planet candidate is promising</h2><div type="image" title="gas giant exoplanet star solar system 15 kepler36 nasa" height="852" width="1136" msid="76290904" hostid="261"></div>The new finding came after astronomers reexamined archived data from the Kepler Space Telescope, which NASA retired in October 2018. The telescope passed the exoplanet-hunting torch to to the TESS satellite telescope, which <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-space-telescope-tess-searches-for-alien-planets-2018-8">began its observations</a> in August 2018. Because KOI-456.04 is less than double the size of Earth, that could mean its atmospheric conditions are similar to ours. Plus, the star the planet candidate orbits is about 1.1 times the size of the sun, with a surface temperature of 5,200 degrees Celsius (only 300 degrees less than the sun). The star also emits visible light, like our sun does.If KOI-456.04's atmosphere is like Earth's — meaning it has a mild greenhouse effect — then its average surface temperature would be about 5 degrees Celsius, compared to Earth's average of 15 degrees Celsius, according to the Max Planck Institute. <div type="image" title="An illustration shows two exoplanets orbiting the young star PDS 70 J." height="1125" width="1500" msid="76290906" hostid="261"></div>The system is just over 3,000 light-years away from our solar system.Future space telescopes could study the planet candidate further. NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency plan to launch the James Webb space telescope in 2021, while the European Space Agency's <a href="https://sci.esa.int/web/plato">PLATO</a> space telescope, scheduled to launch in 2026, will focus on finding Earth-like planets orbiting sun-like stars.

Astronomers have discovered a star and potentially habitable planet that are strikingly similar to the sun and Earth

<ul><li>The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (<keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nasa">NASA</keyword>) has ruled out two potentially hazardous asteroids as a threat to Earth.</li><li>Asteroids 2010 CO1 and 2000 QW7, though large in size, are not a collision course for Earth.</li><li>But in little over a month, asteroid 1998 HL1 -- bigger than Burj Khalifa -- will be flying by.</li></ul>Two asteroids are coming awfully close the planet on 14 September 2019 but the Planetary Defence Coordination Office has ruled them out as a threat. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been tracking asteroid 504800 (<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/The-10-biggest-asteroids-that-could-crash-into-Earth-in-2019/504800-2010-CO1/slideshow/70686170.cms">2010 CO1</a>) and 467317 (<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/The-10-biggest-asteroids-that-could-crash-into-Earth-in-2019/3467317-2000-QW7/slideshow/70686174.cms">2000 QW7</a>). Its calculations show that there is no chance of these space rocks posing a threat to Earth. These aren’t small asteroids either. The first space rock, asteroid 2010 CO1, between 120 meters to 260 meters in diameter. That’s bigger than the tallest statue on Earth — the Statue of Liberty in India. The second one, asteroid 2000 QW7, is even bigger with a diameter of 290 meters to 650 meters. Even China’s Shanghai Tower falls short at 632 meters, even though it’s the tallest building in the country and the third tallest in the world. But, in just a little over a month, there’s an even bigger asteroid heading Earth’s way. On 25 October 2019, an asteroid named <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/The-10-biggest-asteroids-that-could-crash-into-Earth-in-2019/162082-1998-HL1/slideshow/70686183.cms">162082 (1998 HL1)</a>, with its massive diameter of 440 meters to 990 meters, is scheduled to fly past the planet. The asteroid would be taller than the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, at its widest. Who’s got the speed? Asteroid 2010 CO1 is going to travelling at a speed of 51,696 kilometers per hour. But, asteroid 2000 QW7, will be slugging along at 23,112 kilometers per hour — less than half the speed of its counterpart. “Both of these asteroids are passing at about 14 lunar distances from the Earth, or about 3.5 million miles away, but small asteroids pass by Earth this close all the time,” said Lindley Johnson, a planetary defence officer for the Planetary Defence Coordination Office. October’s asteroid falls somewhere in between with a speed of 40,320 kilometers per hour but it will be twice as far away at a distance of 6.2 million kilometers. Earth is safe — for now NASA’s Asteroid Watch keeps an eye on all of these asteroids and has over 20,000 asteroids in its database. But only around 800 of these space rocks are actually considered to be ‘potentially hazardous’. If NASA does detect a change in their orbit at any time — and if that change poses a threat to Earth — it will flag it on the Torino scale. Depending on the threat level, the Torino scale measures the probability of an <keyword id="4678476" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Asteroid-hitting-Earth">asteroid hitting Earth</keyword> on a scale of 1 to 10.

Two potentially hazardous asteroids have been ruled out as a threat to Earth — but a bigger one is on the way

<ul><li>Some scientists think that it's only a matter of time before a city destroying asteroid or meteoroid actually falls to Earth.</li><li>The primary difference between an asteroid and a meteoroid is their size. Meteoroids are much smaller than asteroids.</li><li>Meteors aren't an object at all, they're just the path a meteoroid takes as it falls to Earth.</li></ul>It’s <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/neil-degrasse-tyson-and-other-scientists-believe-asteroids-will-eventually-hit-earth/articleshow/70644547.cms">only a matter of time</a> before Earth gets hit by an asteroid — and the resulting impact could be worse than the after effects of a nuclear explosion. Space agencies keep an eye out for these objects have come to realise that the asteroids having ‘near misses’ will Earth are a lot bigger than they previously through. For instance, on 10 August, scientists were keeping watch on an asteroid as big as the Empire State Building as is barrelled closer to Earth. Thankfully, it was a good 4.6 million light years away, which may seem like a lot but is only a short distance in relative space. A common misconception is that an asteroid is only a meteoroid if it falls to Earth. But that isn’t the case. The primary difference between the two is their size, with meteoroids being considerably smaller than asteroids but still much bigger than an atom, according to the <a href="http://www.iau.org/">International Astronomical Union</a>. And, a meteor isn’t actually an object at all. It’s the path that a meteor takes as it falls to Earth — commonly referred to as a shooting star. Where do asteroids come from? When the Big Bang took place 4.6 million years ago it formed the Sun and the planets but it didn’t use up everything from the gas and dust cloud. The leftovers are what we see as asteroids — most of them between Mars and Jupiter among the asteroid belt. But that’s not the only place that they can be found. These small, rocky objects that orbit the Sun like planets can also be found along the orbit of other planets. That means that they follow the same path as a planet around the sun. How can you tell asteroids apart? Despite their similarities, they’re not all the same. First of all, each one has a different shape. They’re are rounded like planets so the jagged edges on each of them are a unique marker to differentiate one asteroid from another. And, just like the rocks on Earth, asteroids can also be differentiated by their material. Some are a collection of different rocks and other are made of clays and metals. Asteroids also vary when it comes to size. They can be as big as the Empire State Building or the Pyramid of Giza, like the asteroids reported to have a near-miss with Earth, or they can be as small as pebbles. When an asteroid is much smaller in size, it’s commonly referred to as a meteoroid. <keyword id="7978642" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="meteoroid-vs-asteroid">Meteoroid vs asteroid</keyword> A meteoroid is smaller than an asteroid, so if it were to get pulled in by Earth’s gravity — it would likely burn up in the atmosphere. And, as the meteoroid burns up, it creates a blaze of light behind it known as a shooting star — or a meteor. Hence, the name meteor showers. That’s when one larger meteoroid breaks into several pieces as it falls to Earth to create many shooting stars at the same time. These meteors are largely harmless, but if one that were big enough were to pass through Earth’s atmosphere — it’s possible that there could be resulting shockwaves. In February 2013 when a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/The-unsettling-reasons-no-one-saw-the-Chelyabinsk-meteor-over-Russia-coming-and-why-it-could-happen-again/articleshow/51898217.cms">meteor exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia</a>, it created a shockwave that shattered windows with its airblast. 
 
 
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 It’s because of the Chelyabinsk meteor that’s space agencies now keep a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/a-huge-asteroid-just-flew-past-earth-it-didnt-hit-us-but-others-might/These-space-rocks-are-leftovers-from-the-solar-systems-formation-some-4-6-billion-years-ago-A-big-one-slamming-into-Earth-could-mean-our-end-/articleshow/51336184.cms?format=slideshow">more vigilant eye</a> out of space objects. Through monitoring these space rocks, experts have found that Earth gets hit by meteoroids more often than previously conceived. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/neil-degrasse-tyson-and-other-scientists-believe-asteroids-will-eventually-hit-earth/articleshow/70644547.cms">It might not be 'dinosaur destroying' but it's only a matter of time before an asteroid hits Earth</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/an-asteroid-was-supposed-to-hit-earth-in-september-but-astronomers-cant-seem-to-find-it/articleshow/70270747.cms">An asteroid was supposed to hit Earth in September — but astronomers can’t seem to find it</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/a-huge-asteroid-just-flew-past-earth-it-didnt-hit-us-but-others-might/These-space-rocks-are-leftovers-from-the-solar-systems-formation-some-4-6-billion-years-ago-A-big-one-slamming-into-Earth-could-mean-our-end-/articleshow/51336184.cms?format=slideshow">A huge asteroid just flew past Earth - it didn't hit us, but others might</a>

You Searched For "planets bigger than earth" and got 11 results

Earth Isn't So Special Anymore

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There may be new evidence of a mysterious 'Planet X' hiding beyond Pluto

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India’s top space agency discovers an EPIC planet 600-light years away

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Astronomers Find Tiniest Planet Ever

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The best ocean documentary series ever made is coming back - and released a video featuring new music by Radiohead

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Two asteroids bigger than the Japan tsunamis are coming eerily close to Earth today

Prabhjote Gill

Dinosaurs dying off might not have be been the biggest mass extinction on Earth

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A second Earth-sized world orbiting a dwarf star discovered by scientists

ANI

Astronomers have discovered a star and potentially habitable planet that are strikingly similar to the sun and Earth

Holly Secon

Two potentially hazardous asteroids have been ruled out as a threat to Earth — but a bigger one is on the way

Prabhjote Gill

An asteroid only turns into a meteor if it falls to Earth

Prabhjote Gill

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