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National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has discovered 219 new planets, which include 10 potential life-sustaining ones, through the Kepler space telescope.
The Kepler telescope was developed as part of the 2009 Kepler Mission, which was named after German planetary expert Johannes [yoh-huh nes] Kepler. The mission aimed to explore the galaxy and determine whether or not Earth-like planets outside the solar system exist.
Data gathered from the mission revealed that the 10 planets may be capable of supporting life because their sizes and temperatures are similar to Earth’s. KOI 7711.01, one of the 10 planets, was found to have the closest resemblance to Earth.
The Kepler team also found a new hypothesis about planets based on their size. Those that are around 1.75 times the size of the Earth or less are likely to be filled with rocks, just like Earth. On the other hand, those that are two to 3.5 times bigger than Earth are more gaseous, like the planet Neptune.
The main Kepler mission ended its four-year run in May 2013 because of a malfunction in the Kepler spacecraft. Months after the breakdown, a second Kepler Mission called K2 was carried out. The K2 mission officially commenced in May 2014 to continue the space observation using the Kepler space telescope.
Aside from the Kepler telescope, another telescope, which is expected to be launched in 2020, will be used in the discovery of more planets outside the solar system. The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) will be able to probe regions that were not explored during the Kepler missions.