NASA said Thursday it has
discovered a planet similar to Earth.
"It is the twin planet closest to Earth, a kind of older
cousin," said John Grunsfeld, an associate administrator for
NASA's Science Mission Directorate in the US capital.
The discovery was made by the planet-hunting Kepler Space
Telescope.
The possible Earth twin - which NASA experts say is six
billion years old and receives 10% more energy from its star
than Earth does from the Sun - has been named Kepler 452B.
"The years on Kepler 452B last the same amount of time as
they do here on Earth," said Jon Jenkins, NASA's chief analyst
of Kepler telescope data.
"It has spent billions of years near its star's habitable
zone - this means it may have hosted life on its surface at some
point, or may host it now".
Kepler 452B is one and a half times as large as the Earth,
the experts said.
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