Written by Dr. Tony Phillips
Science at NASA
Washington, D.C. – NASA’s Kepler mission scientists have discovered a new planetary system that is home to the smallest planet yet found around a star similar to our sun.
The planets are located in a system called Kepler-37, about 210 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra. The smallest planet, Kepler-37b, is slightly larger than our moon, measuring about one-third the size of Earth. It is smaller than Mercury, which made its detection a challenge.
 This line up compares artist’s concepts of the planets in the Kepler-37 system to the Moon and planets in our own solar system.
«Read the rest of this article»
|