Kepler has confirmed the existence of a planet which is in a habitable zone, the Kepler-22b. This is the first planet of the 54 candidates reported in february 2011 which has been already confirmed. It is the smallest planet found in an habitable zone, as it is about 2.4 times the radius of Earth.
It is located 600 is located 600 light years away from Earth. Even though the Kepler-22b is larger than Earth, it's 290-day orbit around a sun-like star is like our planet's orbit.
The scientists of the NASA don't know yet whether the Kepler-22b is solid, liquid or gaseous."This is a major milestone on the road to finding Earth's twin," said Douglas Hudgins, Kepler program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Kepler mesures gaps in the brightness of stars, in order to detect planet, or at least, planet candidates. It needs at least three "transits" (loops around it's star) to consider the existence of a planet.
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