NASA announces discovery of Kepler-452b by Kepler.
Kepler-452b (a planet sometimes quoted to be an Earth 2.0 or Earth's Cousin based on its characteristics; also known by its Kepler Object of Interest designation KOI-7016.01) is a super-Earth exoplanet orbiting within the inner edge of the habitable zone of the sunlike star Kepler-452 and is the only planet in the system discovered by Kepler. It is located about 1,800 light-years (550 pc) from Earth in the constellation of Cygnus.
Kepler-452b orbits its star at a distance of 1.04 AU (156 million km; 97 million mi) from its host star (nearly the same distance as Earth from the Sun), with an orbital period of roughly 384 days, has a mass at least five times that of Earth, and has a radius of around 1.5 times that of Earth. It is the first potentially rocky super-Earth planet discovered orbiting within the habitable zone of a very sunlike star. However, it is unknown if it is entirely habitable, as it is receiving slightly more energy than Earth and could be subjected to a runaway greenhouse effect.
The Kepler space telescope identified the exoplanet, and its discovery was announced by NASA on 23 July 2015. The planet is about 1,800 light-years (550 pc) away from the Solar System. At the speed of the New Horizons spacecraft, at about 59,000 km/h (16,000 m/s; 37,000 mph), it would take approximately 30 million years to get there.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and space research.NASA was established in 1958, succeeding the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The new agency was to have a distinctly civilian orientation, encouraging peaceful applications in space science. Since its establishment, most US space exploration efforts have been led by NASA, including the Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and later the Space Shuttle. NASA is supporting the International Space Station and is overseeing the development of the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System, Commercial Crew vehicles, and the planned Lunar Gateway space station. The agency is also responsible for the Launch Services Program, which provides oversight of launch operations and countdown management for uncrewed NASA launches.
NASA's science is focused on better understanding Earth through the Earth Observing System; advancing heliophysics through the efforts of the Science Mission Directorate's Heliophysics Research Program; exploring bodies throughout the Solar System with advanced robotic spacecraft such as New Horizons; and researching astrophysics topics, such as the Big Bang, through the Great Observatories and associated programs.