NASA Astronomers Discover Two New Planets

NASA announced that Kepler spacecraft has discovered the first confirmed planetary system with more than one planet "transiting," or crossing in front of, a central star.

Photo: NASA Astronomers Discover Two New Planets

The findings, published in Thursday's issue of the journal Science, came from observing about 156,000 stars for seven months as part of a pioneering search for Earth-size planets outside our solar system.

Kepler's ultra-precise camera measures tiny decreases in a star's brightness caused by the orbiting of the planet as it crosses in front of its sun. The size of the planets can be determined by measuring these temporary dips.

Two planets in the newly discovered system, 2,000 light-years away, are the size of Saturn, and a third possible planet is a "super-Earth," 11/2 times the size of our planet. That planet is the size thought to be potentially habitable, but it orbits too close to its star to support life, Washington Post reports.

The planets, now named named Kepler-9b and 9c, were seen transiting the sun-like star called Kepler-9. The announcement comes just days after ESO released data on a planetary system believed to have five orbiting planets, discovered with the HARP ground-based telescope.

Kepler found more than 700 possible planets in its first 43 days, and has discovered five more systems that appear to have more than one transiting planet, TG Daily informs.