Look out universe: NASA’s Kepler telescope finds 715 new planets outside solar system

This handout artist conception provided by NASA depicts multiple-transiting planet systems, which are stars with more than one planet. (AP Photo/NASA)

The number of known planets outside our solar system nearly doubled this week as observations from NASA’s Kepler space telescope were released publicly. Using new analytical techniques coupled with new Kepler photos added 715 exoplanets to the total of known planets.

These planets reside in 305 planetary systems.Findings were announced on Feb. 26, but will be completely revealed in March with two white papers scheduled for publishing by the Astrophysical Journal. The new planets brings the total number of planets discovered in our galaxy at more than 1,700. All planets have been identified since 1994.

New planets resided in multi=planet systems revolving around a sun. Many of them were smaller than the planets previously discovered. Most are smaller than Neptune. Four newly identified planets were in habitable zones, so could feature water. Those planets were twice as large as Earth.

Finding new planets required several Kepler observations putting together orbit transits and intervals. Scientists were very excited because findings were based on only the first two years of Kepler data. Scientists will look at four years of data, so anticipate finding many more planets.

Scientists were enthused further because the more planets they find the closer they come to finding Earth 2.0 that could be hospitable to human life. They said they were finding ever-smaller planets, which were more likely to host life than larger ones.

The four planets in the hospitable zones of their suns were most likely to be gas planets. Researchers were looking for the smaller planets because they’re rocky and may have Earth-like atmospheres. Possibly habitable planets tend to be further away from their suns because too close is too hot for life.

Small planets are very common in our galaxy. Scientists believe it’s only a matter of time before they find life.

Sizes of Kepler Planet Candidates – based on 2,740 candidates orbiting 2,036 stars as of 4 November 2013 (NASA).