MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. — NASA’s Kepler mission has been approved for extension through fiscal year 2016 based on a recommendation from the Agency’s Senior Review of its operating missions.. The extension provides four additional years to find Earth-size planets in the habitable zone — the region in a planetary system where liquid water could exist on the surface of an orbiting planet – around sun-like stars in our galaxy. The 2012 Senior Review report is available at:
https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/2012-senior-review

“Kepler has revolutionized our understanding of exoplanets and the study of stellar seismology and variability,” said Roger Hunter, Kepler project manager at NASA Ames …

Kepler Finds First Earth-Size Planets Beyond Our Solar System Found
MOFFET FIELD, Calif. — The Kepler mission discovered the first Earth-size planets orbiting a sun-like star outside our solar system. The planets, called Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f, are too close to their star to be in the so-called habitable zone where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface, but they are the smallest exoplanets ever confirmed around a star like our sun.

The discovery marks the next important milestone in the ultimate search for planets like Earth. The new planets are thought to be rocky. Kepler-20e is slightly smaller than Venus, measuring …

First planet in zone that could support life found
(Source – NASA): This diagram compares our own solar system to Kepler-22, a star system containing the first “habitable zone” planet discovered by NASA’s Kepler mission. The habitable zone is the sweet spot around a star where temperatures are right for water to exist in its liquid form. Liquid water is essential for life on Earth.

Kepler-22′s star is a bit smaller than our sun, so its habitable zone is slightly closer in. The diagram shows an artist’s rendering of the planet comfortably orbiting within the habitable zone, similar to where Earth circles …