The New Earth
11th January 2013
Astroboffins poring through data from NASA’s Kepler telescope have spotted what they think might be the most Earth-like planet yet discovered.
The object has a radius 1.5 times that of Earth, which lumps it into the class of extrasolar planets known as “super Earths.” That’s not so unusual, in and of itself; scientists estimate that about 25 per cent of known star systems feature similarly sized worlds. What makes this one special, however, are all of the other ways in which it resembles our own planet.
Great. Let’s go. This one sucks.