NASA announced this week that it will share news on Thursday from the Kepler Space Telescope project hinting that NASA may have found an earth-like planet.
“The first exoplanet orbiting another star like our sun was discovered in 1995. Exoplanets, especially small Earth-size worlds, belonged within the realm of science fiction just 21 years ago. Today, and thousands of discoveries later, astronomers are on the cusp of finding something people have dreamed about for thousands of years — another Earth,” a NASA press release about the Thursday news conference reads.
It’s unusual for NASA to call a news conference for the Kepler project, according to Wired Magazine.
Kepler has found numerous exoplanets in the orbiting zone that could be conducive to supporting life. They discovered eight new planets earlier this year, and Kepler astronomer Fergal Mullally said at the time that they were “now closer than we’ve ever been for finding a twin for Earth,” according to Wired.
