Apr 172014
 

Found! First Earth-Size Planet That Could Support Life

Kepler-186f orbits the star Kepler-186. The star is an M1 red dwarf at a distance of 493 +/- 59 light years in the constellation Cygnus; Kepler-186f orbits the star at a distance of about 52.4 million kilometers. The star is about half as massive as the sun, which makes it a pretty sizable red dwarf. The result here is that not only is Kepler-186f in the habitable zone, it may well be far enough out that it is not tidally locked with the star. The planet is about 110% the diameter of Earth, and orbits the star in 130 days. It might be just right for life.

diagram-kepler-186f

 Posted by at 11:00 pm