Kepler finds 2326 potential alien worlds in 16 months

NASA's Kepler mission is searching for Earth-like planets by looking for them to cross the face of alien stars. CREDIT: NASA View full size image

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. — Virtually all of the alien planet candidates discovered by NASA's Kepler space telescope may turn out to be the real deal, a new study suggests.
Researchers announced Dec. 5 that Kepler has detected 2,326 potential alien worlds in its first 16 months of operation, including 48 in their stars' habitable zones — that just-right range of distances that could allow liquid water, and maybe even life, to exist.
While the vast majority of these planets have yet to be confirmed, 99.9 percent or so may end up making the cut, according to the study. That would mean Kepler's finds to date would more than quadruple the number of known alien worlds, which currently stands at a little more than 700. end quote from:http://www.livescience.com/17336-kepler-alien-planets-confirmed-false-positives.html

To go from 700 potential alien worlds to 2,236  new potential alien worlds in only 16 months makes one wonder how many more potential alien worlds Kepler will find in the next few years? As science in all its forms keeps moving forward in these literally exponential ways what more amazing things will mankind find out there? The following address gives graphic representation of some of the types of planets and other celestial bodies Kepler and other research vehicles are finding in space at a rapid pace now.



Source: SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration