New Planet Kepler-22b: A New Hope and a New Perspective

Is there life in other planets or in other parts of the universe? The question of the existence of life beyond ours has remained unanswered. Since man has landed on the moon, the technology to explore space has grown by leaps and bounds. Mankind is hungry to find real evidence of life outside our planet earth. Though there are historical signs that aliens or extraterrestrials are regular visitors of earth, scientists have yet to uncover real convincing evidences of the existence of alien life.

In 2009, NASA launched its planet-hunting mission using several powerful telescopes including the Kepler Telescope. It is a fact that there are over 500 planets already found to orbit sun-like stars outside our own solar system. The latest interesting finding which NASA released last December 5, 2011 is the discovery of the planet Kepler-22b. Kepler-22b is a new planet which is very similar to our planet Earth. Kepler-22b is around 600 light years away from earth and can be reached by the space shuttle in about 22 million years! NASA said the new planet Kepler-22b is orbiting its sun-like star at a distance similar to Earth’s distance from the sun. Such distance allows for water to be available in the new planet and the average temperature would be ideal for life. Scientists think that the composition of the new planet is somewhat between earth and Neptune which is more of gas and liquid. The new planet is around 2.5 times the size of earth. Some experts said that the new planet is covered by oceans and a core of rock formation.

The discovery of this new planet Kepler-22b has caused much excitement among the astronomers globally. Scientists speculate that mankind is very near in discovering the existence of life beyond earth. The discovery of the new planet has opened up a lot of endless possibilities from very small alien microbes to very intelligent alien beings watching over us. Being an avid fan, I could say that Star Trek is slowly becoming a reality.

The picture on the right is an artist rendering provided by NASA showing the new planet Kepler-22b. The new planet is very similar to our planet Earth and the surface temperature is around 72 degrees. it's star is likewise similar to our sun.