(The stronger gravity of larger planets allows them to hang on to their surface water for longer periods of time in such situations than smaller worlds can.). Change in it any material way and you diminish its capacity to support existing life forms, including human life, and that is precisely what we are doing today by altering the climate, changing the chemistry of the oceans, and destroying entire ecosystems. While its mass and composition are not yet determined, previous research suggests that planets the size of Kepler-452b have a better than even chance of being rocky.

NASA estimates the planet to be about 60 percent bigger than Earth, and due to its proximity to its host star, there very well could be liquid water present.

He believes study should instead be focused on exoplanets orbiting stars, not as similar to our Sun as Kepler-452b’s, but which are much nearer. Nearly all of those earth-like planets have the same size as our very own planet.

At this point, the scientists can only make assumptions about the exoplanet and hope to find out more in the near future. Kepler Mission was launched by NASA to detect earth-like planets that are orbiting around a star in the habitable zone. So far, Kepler 452b is the first one that has been confirmed.

Scientists have discovered an Earth-like planet about 1,400 light years away, and had named the “closest cousin” as Kepler 452b.

Kepler has only started discovering potentially habitable planets all across the Milky Way and it will continue doing so.

He added, “It’s awe-inspiring to consider that this planet has spent six billion years in the habitable zone of its star, longer than Earth”. Jon Jenkins from NASA’s Ames Research Center in California said that the planet appears to resemble Earth.

The scientists are trying to determine whether Kepler 452b is a rocky planet like ours or if it’s gaseous like Neptune; if it has liquid water on its surface or if it has an atmosphere.

He explained that the fastest spacecraft in our Solar System – NASA’s Juno probe – only travels at the speed of 86,000 miles (138,000 kilometers) per hour relative to the Earth. But these planets will not be Earth.

“Kepler-452b could be experiencing now what the Earth will undergo more than a billion years from now, as the Sun ages and grows brighter”. How close are we to finding extraterrestrials? Planetary traveler hopefuls will probably never get to set foot on another planet and get to call it home, though, within the next few generations, it may be possible.

For example, the discovery of Kepler-452b was announced along with 521 newfound planet “candidates”, bringing Kepler’s total tally of potential planets to 4,696.