Could the new Earth-like planets harbor life?

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December 23, 2011 - An artist's rendering displays a world referred to as Kepler-20e. NASA's Kepler mission has discovered the very first Earth-measurement planets orbiting a sun-like star outdoors our photo voltaic system, a milestone in the search for planets like the earth, the space agency mentioned on Tuesday.

For life as we know it to occur on an additional planet, researchers think the alien world ought to have three key components: organic and natural molecules that can form complex structures, energy to jiggle people molecules, and liquid water for them to jiggle in. It truly is a short recipe, but nevertheless, only planets that are incredibly equivalent to Earth can perhaps have all three things in stock.

Sources and more information:

• Kepler finds first earth-size planets beyond our solar system

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Kepler mission has 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...

• First Earth-size planets discovered beyond our solar system

NASA has discovered the first earth-size planets outside of our solar system. The discovery was made as part of NASA's Kepler mission and involves the discovery of two planets currently named after the project: Kepler-20e and Kepler-20f. If the Kepler name sounds familiar, that's because NASA also recently announced the discovery of Kepler-22b,...

• Where are they?

• Kepler Discovers Earth-Sized Exoplanets

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( via csmonitor.com )