Astronomers Have Discovered Eight Potentially Habitable Planets

Astronomers have announced that they have
discovered eight more planets that likely exist
in temperature ranges where life could exist.
The astronomers began their research path by
examining candidates for planets that had
been identified by NASA’s Kepler mission .
The candidates were analyzed using a
supercomputer running algorithms at NASA’s
Ames facility.
After exploring the statistical likelihood of the
planets’ existence, the team followed up with
months of observations using a variety of
different methods. The planets are distant
enough, however, that their habitabiliy is still
only a likelihood, not a certainty.
“We don’t know for sure whether any of the
planets in our sample are truly habitable,”
researcher David Kipping said in a statement.
“All we can say is that they’re promising
candidates.”
The two most potentially Earth-like planets of
the group of eight are Kepler-438b and
Kepler-442b, both of which circle red dwarf
stars are are respectively 70% and 97% likely
to be in the habitable temperature zones of
their respective stars. However, it should be
noted that there are serious issues regarding
the potential habitability of planets circling
red dwarf stars , so confirmation will require
significantly more study.
In addition to nearly doubling the potential
number of habitable planets, this latest
discovery also helps astronomers in a different
milestone. NASA announced this week that
the Kepler mission has helped astronomers
verify the discovery of over 1,000 planets
outside of our solar system. The mission has
also uncovered over 4,000 planetary
candidates.
“Each result from the planet-hunting Kepler
mission’s treasure trove of data takes us
another step closer to answering the question
of whether we are alone in the Universe,”
NASA associate administrator John Grunsfeld
said in a press release . “The Kepler team and
its science community continue to produce
impressive results with the data from this
venerable explorer.”
The researchers’ findings will be published in
The Astrophysical Journal .
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