The discoveries keep coming. NASA recently announced the discovery of a new exoplanet, Kepler-452b. The exoplanet, about 1,400 light years away, is a close match with Earth in terms of size and proximity to the sun. That means the light we are seeing from this exoplanet dates back to a time when Europe was starting to recover from a plague that wiped out half the continent's population. That would have been a good time to look for a safe and distant harbor. Other runner-up Earth-like candidates spotted by the Kepler space telescope are provided in the image above.
Credits: NASA Ames/W. Stenzel
