New Tiny Planet System Found During Kepler Mission!

A new miniature planet system has been found on the Kepler mission! The planets are located "in a system called Kepler-37, about 210 light-years from Earth in the constellation Lyra." The most identifiable planet is Kepler-37b. In a size comparison, Kepler-27b is only slightly larger than our Moon. This equaties to one-third the size of Earth. Kepler 37-b is smaller than Mercury and smaller than Mars. Kepler-37b's small size made its detection difficult. The planet system, Kepler-37, rotates around a sun that is very similar to our own.
(Artist's depiction of size of Kepler-37b compared to other known planets.)

Scientist from NASA are guessing that the tiny planet is almost certainly composed of rocky. Kepler-37c is the next closest planet in the Kepler-37 system and is similar to Venus in size. Kepler 37c is estimated to be around three-quarters the size of Earth. Kepler-37d, the largest and farther planet and is estimated to be twice the size of Earth in size.


The planets and planet system were discovered during the Kepler mission "which is designed to find Earth-sized planets in or near the 'habitable zone' — the region in a planetary system where liquid water might exist on the surface of an orbiting planet." Although Kepler-37 falls within the habitable zone, and rotates around a sun similar to ours, scientists suspect that the planet system is very different from our own and is not habitable.

Original Article: http://www.astronomy.com/~/link.aspx?_id=91972e94-2e53-45db-8d33-d97a67f56f25