A team of transatlantic scientists, using reanalyzed data from NASA’s Kepler space telescope, has discovered an Earth-size exoplanet orbiting in its star’s habitable zone, the area around a star where a rocky planet could support liquid water.

Scientists discovered this planet, called Kepler-1649c, when looking through old observations from Kepler, which the agency retired in 2018. While previous searches with a computer algorithm misidentified it, researchers reviewing Kepler data took a second look at the signature and recognized it as a planet. Out of all the exoplanets found by Kepler, this distant world – located 300 light-years from Earth – is most similar to Earth in size and estimated temperature.

This artist’s illustration shows what Kepler-1649c could look like from its surface.

Learn more at NASA’s Reddit Ask Me Anything on Friday, April 17, from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. EDT. To participate, go to: https://www.reddit.com/r/space/

Image Credit: NASA/Ames Research Center/Daniel Rutter

一支跨大西洋的科学家小组利用来自NASA开普勒太空望远镜的重新分析数据，发现了一颗地球大小的系外行星在其恒星的宜居带(可居住带)内运行。宜居带是一颗恒星周围的区域，岩石行星可能在那里存在液态水。

这颗行星被称为开普勒-1649c，是科学家在查阅开普勒望远镜的旧观测资料时发现的。开普勒望远镜于2018年退役。虽然之前用计算机算法进行的搜索没有识别出这颗行星，但研究人员在查阅开普勒的数据时，再次查看了这颗行星的特征，在开普勒发现的所有系外行星中，这个距离地球300光年的遥远星球在大小和估计温度上与地球最为相似。

这张艺术概念图展示了Kepler-1649c表面的样子

4月17日，周五，美国东部时间下午2点到3点30分在NASA Reddit 的“Ask Me Anything”活动中了解更多信息。参加活动请登录:https://www.reddit.com/r/space/

图片来源:NASA/Ames Research Center/Daniel Rutter