12-06-2011, 09:44 AM
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#1302
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Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Winebar Kensington
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NASA finds planet that could sustain life
Found orbiting habitable zone of sun-like star
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Science/.../19074016.html
The most Earth-like planet ever discovered is circling a star 600 light years away, a key finding in an ongoing quest to learn if life exists beyond Earth, scientists said on Monday.
The planet, called Kepler-22b, joins a list of more than 500 planets found to orbit stars beyond our solar system. It is the smallest and the best positioned to have liquid water on its surface -- among the ingredients necessary for life on Earth.
"We are homing in on the true Earth-sized, habitable planets," said San Jose State University astronomer Natalie Batalha, deputy science team lead for NASA's Kepler Space Telescope that discovered the star.
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