Refurbished Water Planet

Kepler-186f is 10% larger than Earth, but its mass and composition are unknown. NASA and the Kepler team reported that they have discovered an Earth-sized planet that orbits a dwarf star at a distance that allows for liquid water conditions.



The news was also published on April 16, in the journal Science. The new planet, Kepler-186f, is part of a five-planetary system that orbits a star called Kepler-186. The star is cooler and about 60% smaller than the Sun. The discovered system is located about 500 light years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. Kepler-186f is the only planet in its system that is at the required distance from the star to have liquid water on its surface. Since liquid water is a key element for the existence of life, scientists call this distance from the star – the habitable zone. On planets that are too close to their star, liquid water evaporates. And those that are too far away don’t get enough energy from their star to support a climate and atmosphere similar to that on Earth. The planets were discovered by Kepler, which we have written about earlier. The spacecraft has found dozens of exoplanets in the habitable zone, but most are gas giants. Kepler-186f is the first to match the size of Earth and potentially have the same atmosphere and water.



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Kepler-186f is 10% larger than Earth. Scientists confirmed the size of Kepler-186f by measuring the dark spot it forms as it flies against the background of its star. Scientists do not yet know the mass and composition of Kepler-186f, but suggest that it may have a rocky surface. Comparison of our solar system with the star system Kepler-186:



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