Kepler Finds Multi-Planet Star

By Michael Mecham

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. — In just its first four months of operation, the Kepler orbiting observatory has identified 1,235 candidate planets, including five in orbit in a habitable zone around a slightly smaller, cooler star than our Sun.

“Kepler has blown the lid off of everything we’ve known about Earth-sized planets,” says Yale University astronomer Debra Fischer. While she expects that as many as 20% of ...

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