By Kim Da-hee
NASA's Kepler Space Telescope has discovered 1,284 new planets, nearly doubling the number of planets confirmed outside our solar system.
The agency launched the Kepler mission to find potentially habitable Earth-size planets in March 2009. Kepler has now discovered 2,325 exoplanets -- planets that orbit a star other than our sun.
"The probability of (the discoveries) being a planet is greater than 99 percent - the minimum required to earn the status of planet," NASA said Tuesday.
Of the 1,284 planets, about 550 are rocky like Earth and nine are believed to have surface temperatures that allow liquid water, NASA said.
"Thanks to Kepler and the research community, we now know there could be more planets than stars," said Paul Hertz, Astrophysics Division director at NASA headquarters. "This knowledge informs the future missions that are needed to take us ever-closer to finding out whether we are alone in the universe."
NASA's Kepler Space Telescope has discovered 1,284 new planets, nearly doubling the number of planets confirmed outside our solar system.
The agency launched the Kepler mission to find potentially habitable Earth-size planets in March 2009. Kepler has now discovered 2,325 exoplanets -- planets that orbit a star other than our sun.
"The probability of (the discoveries) being a planet is greater than 99 percent - the minimum required to earn the status of planet," NASA said Tuesday.
Of the 1,284 planets, about 550 are rocky like Earth and nine are believed to have surface temperatures that allow liquid water, NASA said.
"Thanks to Kepler and the research community, we now know there could be more planets than stars," said Paul Hertz, Astrophysics Division director at NASA headquarters. "This knowledge informs the future missions that are needed to take us ever-closer to finding out whether we are alone in the universe."
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