Nasa’s Kepler telescope discovers ‘Earth-like’ exoplanet in our galaxy

A team of astronomers have discovered the an Earth-sized planet within our galaxy that could harbour extraterrestrial life.

The planet, named Kepler-186f, is in the so-called “goldilocks” of “habitable zone” where the planet could potentially hold liquid water, a basic necessity for the development of life on Earth.

Paul Hertz, NASA’s Astrophysics Division director at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, said:

“The discovery of Kepler-186f is a significant step toward finding worlds like our planet Earth. Future NASA missions, like the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and the James Webb Space Telescope, will discover the nearest rocky exoplanets and determine their composition and atmospheric conditions, continuing humankind’s quest to find truly Earth-like worlds.”

Kepler-186f resides in the Kepler-186 system, about 500 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. The system is also home to four companion planets, which orbit a star half the size and mass of our sun. The star is classified as an M dwarf, or red dwarf, a class of stars that makes up 70 percent of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy.