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N.A.S.A. Discovers Mega Earth

Arash Zandi |
June 2, 2014 | 5:29 p.m. PDT

Executive Producer

Kepler-10c has a diameter of 18,000 miles. (Twitter/@BI_Science)
Kepler-10c has a diameter of 18,000 miles. (Twitter/@BI_Science)
Scientists reported the discovery of a “Mega Earth”, that is 17 times the size of Earth, according to The Daily Beast.

N.A.S.A.’s Kepler Space Telescope was responsible for Monday's extraordinary discovery, which the space agency’s scientists are naming “Kepler-10c.”

The Washington Post reports that the planet is situated in the Draco constellation, 560 light-years away from Earth.

The discovery has baffled experts, as the hydrogen gas-filled solid planet, should by all accounts, be a gas giant like Jupiter or Saturn instead.

Kepler 10-c has now challenged previously held theories regarding planet formation, and gave new hope for the search for extraterrestrial life, says io9.

Dimitar Sasselov of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics told Discovery News that “Solid planets…as far as we know -- and we know very little about origins of life -- is where we think the chemistry is capable of building molecules which lead to the emergence of life.”

Reach Executive Producer Arash Zandi here. Follow him on Twitter here.



 

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