Of the new candidates, 68 are one-and-a-quarter times the size of the Earth or smaller — smaller, that is, than any previously discovered planets outside the solar system. Another 50 of these so-called exoplanets are in the habitable zones of their stars, where temperatures should be moderate enough for liquid water, the essential stuff for life as we know it; two of these are less than twice the size of Earth.
In a separate announcement, to be published in Nature on Thursday, a group of Kepler astronomers led by Jack Lissauer of Ames said they had found a star with six planets — the most Kepler has yet found around one star, orbiting in close ranks in the same plane inside what would be the orbit of Mercury.
If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on ycombinator or StumbleUpon. Thanks