Kepler 22-B

On December 5, 2011, the scientific community announced that a possible Earthlike world (Kepler-22b) had been discovered orbiting in the star's habitable zone by NASA's Kepler spacecraft. 


Kepler-22b is the first confirmed extrasolar planet found by NASA's Kepler Space Telescope to orbit within the habitable zone of a Sun-like star. 

Kepler-22b, a possible super-Earth, is 600 light years away from Earth.

Kepler-22b's radius is roughly 2.4 times the radius of Earth.

The only parameters of the planet's orbit that are currently available are its period which is about 290 days.

The average distance from Kepler-22b to its host star Kepler-22 is about 15% less than the distance from Earth to the Sun but the luminosity (light output) of Kepler-22 is about 25% less than that of the Sun.

Scientists can estimate the possible surface conditions as follows:

• In the absence of an atmosphere, the equilibrium temperature would be approximately -11°C.
• If the atmosphere provides a greenhouse effect similar in magnitude to the one on Earth, the planet would have an average surface temperature of 22 °C (72°F).
• If the atmosphere has a greenhouse effect similar in magnitude to the one on Venus, the planet would have an average surface temperature of 460 °C (860°F).

Using NASA's Kepler space telescope, astronomers this year have announced they'd spotted 2,326 new worlds and counting. Ten of those planets are close in size to our own and orbit their suns in the "habitable zone," where temperatures could be balmy enough to support liquid water — and potentially life.


Kepler 22-B is our best shot! :D