Scientists identify 20 potentially habitable Earth-like planets

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: In yet another breakthrough, scientists have identified 20 potentially habitable Earth-like planets which they claim are capable of possessing life like Earth.

These planets have been discovered from a trove of over 4,000 exoplanets discovered by NASA's Kepler mission till date.

The new research outlines 216 Kepler planets located within the "habitable zone" - the area around a star in which a planet's surface could hold liquid water.

Of those, 20 were listed as the best candidates to be habitable rocky planets like Earth, researchers said.

"This is the complete catalogue of all of the Kepler discoveries that are in the habitable zone of their host stars," said Stephen Kane, an associate professor at San Francisco State University.

"That means we can focus in on the planets in this paper and perform follow-up studies to learn more about them, including if they are indeed habitable," Kane said.

The research also confirms that the distribution of Kepler planets within the habitable zone is the same as the distribution of those outside of it - additional evidence that the universe is teeming with planets and moons where life could potentially exist.

(With IANS inputs)