If Another Earth Is Out There, Kepler Will Find it

But Kepler-10b is too hot for human habitation

(NEWSER) - The Kepler space telescope has discovered a rocky planet that’s just 1.4 times the size of Earth orbiting a distant star—making it the smallest planet NASA has ever discovered outside of our solar system, and the only rocky one, NASA announced today. The bad news: The planet, dubbed Kepler-10b, appears far too hot to support any kind of life. More»

Glowing hot planets found, 100 possibles being analyzed

(NEWSER) - NASA's planet-hunting Kepler telescope has found its first five planets outside our solar system, and they're all hotter than molten lava.The planets are all much bigger than Earth and orbit their suns very closely. Their discovery is a dramatic demonstration that Kepler is working well, boosting the hopes of finding an Earth-like planet more suited to life within the next few years, note NASA officials. More»

(NEWSER) - A massive mysterious object scientists believe may be a comet slammed into Jupiter yesterday, AP reports. The Earth-size impact "scar" left by the object was caught on NASA's powerful infrared telescope in Hawaii. The agency was alerted to the new mark on the planet by an amateur astronomer in England who was searching the planet with his own backyard telescope, according to the Times of London. More»

Spacecraft will spend next 3 years searching for planet in 'Goldilocks zone'

(NEWSER) - NASA's planet-hunting spacecraft Kepler was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral last night, Space.com reports. Kepler, the widest-field telescope ever sent into space, will spend the next three years scanning the sky for a planet in the "Goldilocks zone" where conditions are just right for liquid water to exist and for life to take hold. More»

(NEWSER) - NASA will launch its Kepler space telescope tomorrow on a 3-year mission to look for planets as habitable to life as Earth, the Christian Science Monitor reports. Kepler will use a sophisticated digital camera, 10 times more sensitive than consumer models, to survey distant stars for orbiting planets with just the right credentials. “It’s quite an exciting time to be alive,” one scientist said. More»