Earth's twin planet discovered says NASA

(ANSA) - Washington, July 23 - 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.