TEMPO.CO, California - Scientists have added 715 new planets beyond the solar system to the list, spotted by Kepler space telescope operated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The discoveries boost the total number of planets observed to nearly 1,700.
"We almost doubled, just today, the number of planets known to humanity," said astronomer Douglas Hudgins, head of exoplanet exploration at NASA headquarters in Washington, as reported by Reuters.
The discoveries, he said, were possible because of a new verification technique that analyzes potential planets in groups, instead of one at a time. The method was developed after scientists realized that most planets, as those in the solar system, orbit a common parent star.
Like the solar system which has eight planets and Pluto and other "dwarf planets", the exoplanets belong in families.
NASA and other space agencies are designing a telescope to spot "habitable zones" around their parent stars, where temperatures would be suitable for water. The discovery will be published in the next edition of The Astrophysical Journal.
REUTERS | TRIP B
