NASA's Kepler telescope finds largest trove of exoplanets

This announcement more than doubles the number of confirmed planets from Kepler, NASA says

MIAMI: The largest trove of planets outside our solar system – 1,284 in all – was announced on Tuesday, more than doubling the number of known exoplanets found with the Kepler space telescope, NASA said Tuesday.

"This announcement more than doubles the number of confirmed planets from Kepler," said Ellen Stofan, chief scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Planet-hunting @NASAKepler verified 1,284 new planets—largest finding of planets to date: https://t.co/a3iwil3w1P pic.twitter.com/maczWuwBDe

— NASA (@NASA) May 10, 2016

"This gives us hope that somewhere out there, around a star much like ours, we can eventually discover another Earth."

The unmanned Kepler space observatory, which launched in 2009, has been scanning 150,000 stars for signs of orbiting bodies, particularly those that might be able to support life.

It works by observing a dimming in the light of star, known as a transit, each time an orbiting planet passes in front of it.

550 of the new Kepler planets are small possibly rocky; 9 of those reside in habitable zone.https://t.co/UgPRQTCEFw pic.twitter.com/5cR1tNb190

— NASA Exoplanets (@NASAExoplanets) May 10, 2016

"Of the nearly 5,000 total planet candidates found to date, more than 3,200 now have been verified, and 2,325 of these were discovered by Kepler," NASA said in a statement.

Of the new trove of 1,284, nearly 550 could be rocky planets like Earth, based on their size, the US space agency said.

"Nine of these orbit in their sun's habitable zone, which is the distance from a star where orbiting planets can have surface temperatures that allow liquid water to pool."

The addition of these nine means that 21 exoplanets now are known to be possibly circling their stars in the habitable zone, and possible sources for life.