Kepler 62f: An exoplanet 1200 light years away may be habitable!

(Image credits: NASA)

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: A distant earth-like planet some 1200 light years away and about 40% larger than the size of our home planet may support life, US scientists reports.

Scientists claims that Kepler 62f is in the direction of the constellation Lyra and falls in the range of planets that are likely to be rocky and could have oceans.

In 2013, NASA's exoplanet hunting mission, Kepler discovered the planetary system that includes Kepler 62f and identified that Kepler 62f is the outermost of the five planets orbiting a star that is smaller.

University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and University of Washington scientists combined climate, orbit models and also used new computer simulations that showed possible kinds of atmosphere on the surface of the exoplanet.

After careful observations, which are published in the journal Astrobiology, they revealed that the atmosphere of Kepler 62f is 12 times thicker than the Earth and contains various concentration of carbon dioxide. That is why this planet holds strong possibilities of sustaining life!

(With agencies inputs)