Planet KOI 172.02, the Most Earth-like Exoplanet, Explained in Infograph

[Sagan]

Planet KOI 172.02, the Most Earth-like Exoplanet, Explained in Infograph



The continued search for habitable planets is on. In the past there has been a lot of attention on the red dwarf star Gliese 581 due to the belief that several of its planets might reside in a potential habitual zone, including the planet Gliese 581g. That’s not the only planet making headlines though, as the planet KOI 170.02 continues to receive plenty of attention as well and has now been detailed in a new infograph.

So what is so special about Planet KOI 170.02? Not only does it orbit within the habitable zone of a sun-like star, it also a “super-Earth” at about 1.5 times the diameter of our planet.

At the moment, KIO 170.02 is yet to be officially confirmed, but the hope is that it could someday prove to contain liquid water on its surface. While it is a much bigger planet, the similarities between the star it orbits and our sun continue to be of interest. Based on what we believe, it should take the exoplanet 242 Earth days to orbit its star.


http://www.mobilemag.com/2013/02/12/planet-koi-172-02/

[Ont Mon]

Fascinating. I remember a while back people going on about a similar planet they discovered called Kepler22b