Interesting...<br />This from Yahoo (I can't figure out how to link the article so I'll just cut & paste. Knowing Yahoo the page will disappear soon anyway.<br /><br />[quote]A <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1323136511_2">newly discovered planet</span> is eerily similar to Earth and is sitting outside our <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1323136511_4">solar system</span> in what seems to be the ideal place for life, except for one hitch. It's a bit too big.<p id="yui_3_3_0_21_1323137602067307">The planet is smack in the middle of what <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1323136511_5">astronomers</span>
call the Goldilocks zone, that hard to find place that's not too hot,
not too cold, where water, which is essential for life, doesn't freeze
or boil. And it has a shopping mall-like surface temperature of near 72
degrees, scientists say.</p><p id="yui_3_3_0_21_1323137602067292">The planet's confirmation was announced Monday by <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1323136511_0">NASA</span> along with other discoveries by its <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1323136511_1">Kepler telescope</span>, which was launched on a planet-hunting mission in 2009.</p><p id="yui_3_3_0_21_1323137602067302">That's the first planet confirmed in the <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1323136511_3">habitable zone</span> for <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1323136511_6">Kepler</span>,
which had already found Earth-like rocky planets elsewhere. Twice
before astronomers have announced a planet found in that zone, but
neither have been as promising.</p><p id="yui_3_3_0_21_1323137602067312">"This is a phenomenal discovery in the course of human history," <span class="yshortcuts cs4-ndcor" id="lw_1323136511_7">Geoff Marcy</span> of <span class="yshortcuts cs4-visible" id="lw_1323136511_8">University of California, Berkeley</span>,
one of the pioneers of planet-hunting outside our solar system, said in
an email. "This discovery shows that we Homo sapiens are straining our
reach into the universe to find planets that remind us of home. We are
almost there."</p><p id="yui_3_3_0_21_1323137602067464">The new planet —
named Kepler-22b — has key aspects it shares with Earth. It circles a
star that could be the twin of our sun and at just about the same
distance. The planet's year of 290 days is even close to ours. It likely
has water and rock.</p><p id="yui_3_3_0_21_1323137602067465">The only
trouble is the planet's a bit big for life to exist on the surface. The
planet is about 2.4 times the size of Earth. It could be more like the
gas-and-liquid Neptune with only a rocky core and mostly ocean.</p><p id="yui_3_3_0_21_1323137602067522">"It's so exciting to imagine the possibilities," said Natalie Batalha, the Kepler deputy science chief.</p><p id="yui_3_3_0_21_1323137602067468">Floating
on that "world completely covered in water" could be like being on an
Earth ocean and "it's not beyond the realm of possibility that life
could exist in such an ocean," Batalha said in a phone interview.</p><p id="yui_3_3_0_21_1323137602067471">Kepler
can't find life itself, just where the conditions might be right for it
to thrive. And when astronomers look for life elsewhere they're talking
about everything ranging from microbes to advanced intelligence that
can be looking back at us.</p><p id="yui_3_3_0_21_1323137602067525">So
far the Kepler telescope has spotted 2,326 candidate planets outside our
solar system with 139 of them potentially habitable ones. Even though
the confirmed Kepler-22b is a bit big, it is still smaller than most of
the other candidates. It is closest to Earth in size, temperature and
star than either of the two previously announced planets in the zone.</p><p id="yui_3_3_0_21_1323137602067528">The
confirmation of one of two, though, has been disputed. The latest
discovery has been confirmed several ways, including by two other
telescopes.</p><p id="yui_3_3_0_21_1323137602067531">Earlier this year, a
European team of astronomers said they had confirmed another planet in
the habitable zone, but that one was hot and barely on the inside edge
of the habitable zone.</p><p>For Marcy, who is on the Kepler team, the
newest planet is a smidgen too large. But, "that smidgen makes all the
difference," he said.</p><p id="yui_3_3_0_21_1323137602067543">Because
its size implies that it's closer to Neptune in composition than Earth,
"I would bet my telescope that there is no hard, rocky surface to walk
on," Marcy said.</p><p id="yui_3_3_0_21_1323137602067540">Chief Kepler
scientist William Borucki said he thinks the planet is somewhere between
Earth and gas-and-liquid Neptune, but that it has a lot of rocky
material. It's in a size range that scientists don't really know
anything about. Measurements next summer may help astronomers have a
better idea of its makeup, he said.</p><p>The planet is 600 light years
away. Each light year is 5.9 trillion miles. It would take a space
shuttle about 22 million years to get there.</p><p id="yui_3_3_0_21_1323137602067590">Kepler
spots a planet when it passes in front of its star. NASA requires three
of those sightings before it begins to confirm it as a planet. Borucki
said the third sighting for 22b happened a year ago, just before the
telescope shut down for a while. It took several months to finish the
confirmation.</p><p id="yui_3_3_0_21_1323137602067587">"It's a great gift," Borucki said. "We consider this sort of our Christmas planet."</p><p>[/quote]</p><p> </p><h1 class="headline"><br /></h1>
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