NASA’s Kepler Discovers 5 new Planets

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo – Since its launch in 2009 NASA’S Kepler Mission has found more than 1,000 planets.

This new system, now named Kepler-444, is home to five planets that varyin size, the smallest comparable to the size of Mercuryand the largest to Venusand is about 17 light-years away from Earth.

“What we are looking at here is a very old star, probably about two and a half times the age of our sun ” saidthe director of the Colorado Springs Space FoundationTravis Schenck

NASA scientists believe this is the oldest star ever discovered that has planets orbiting it.

The new discovery is not identical to Earth. The orbit time is only 10days and the planets are very close to the star. This likely makesthem much too hot to inhabit.

“They show us that Earth-likeplanets formedearlier in the history of our galaxy and that means that there could be other planets about the same age which could have developed life much earlier or which potentially could have water and be a habitable place we could visit,” said Schenck