Scientists have discovered a new planet
Astronomers have discovered a planet twice the size of Earth, and it’s within a zone that could allow liquid water to exist on its surface.
The finding comes from data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope, which ran out of fuel in October 2018.
K2-288Bb, as the new planet is called, is located within its star’s habitable zone, which is why liquid water is a possibility.
Its size is unusual for an exoplanet (the term for a planet that orbits a star outside our solar system). Few planets that orbit close to their stars are more than 1.5 times as large as Earth, yet K2-288Bb is estimated to be roughly 1.9 times the size of our planet.
“It’s a very exciting discovery due to how it was found, its temperate orbit and because planets of this size seem to be relatively uncommon,” University of Chicago graduate student Adina Feinstein, the lead author of a paper on the discovery, said in a NASA news release.
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