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laserfusion [soylentnews.org] writes:

Nasa has announced [nasa.gov] today the discovery of Kepler-452b, an Earth-like planet in a Sun-like star's habitable zone:

Kepler-452b is 60 percent larger in diameter than Earth and is considered a super-Earth-size planet. While its mass and composition are not yet determined, previous research suggests that planets the size of Kepler-452b have a good chance of being rocky.

While Kepler-452b is larger than Earth, its 385-day orbit is only 5 percent longer. The planet is 5 percent farther from its parent star Kepler-452 than Earth is from the Sun. Kepler-452 is 6 billion years old, 1.5 billion years older than our sun, has the same temperature, and is 20 percent brighter and has a diameter 10 percent larger.

The Kepler-452 system is located 1,400 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus.

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