The possibility of having life on another planet has been baffling us for hundreds of years since the invention of the telescope. Up to this day, no scientific evidence has shown that there is indeed life beyond the solar system. However, the recent discovery of NASA's Kepler of about a hundred exoplanets beyond the solar system may increase the likelihootd of life outside our system.
Thanks to NASA's Kepler, one hundred four new exoplanets have been discovered during its ongoing mission to discover new entities outside of the solar system. The University of Arizona sponsored mission announced that it is the biggest new discovery of exoplanets since the K2 mission was initiated. The new planets discovery adds up to the recently findings last May prompting the count to a total of 3,473.
CNet's article mentioned that the technique to discover new planets is by looking at regular stars that may have a reduction in its brightness due to orbiting planets in its surroundings. The existence of the possible planets is then confirmed by using ground-based telescopes like Gemini North or the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona.
In recent data, at least four of the discovered planets have similar structures as those with Earth and Mars, having rocky formations on the surface. Scientists have located about 181 Earth-like planets, light-years away from the solar system.
However, these other planets are more likely to be larger than the Earth in terms of diameter. Scientists also claim that these planets have the right hot and cold temperatures that could potentially support life.
According to NASA, initial assumptions are that exoplanets are quite rare. Since the mission of the Kepler telescope started, it was confirmed that exoplanets exist in great numbers after all.
With the recent discovery, NASA now assumes that there could be more planets than stars. This brings down to the idea that there could be hundreds of other Earth-like planets outside of the solar system.
