All you need to know about Earth's cousin, Kepler 452b

NASA has found a planet, Kepler-452b, beyond the solar system that is a close match to Earth using the powerful Kepler telescope.

Scientists are calling Kepler-452b as Earth's bigger and older cousin. "We can think of Kepler-452b as an older, bigger cousin to Earth, providing an opportunity to understand and reflect upon Earth’s evolving environment," said Jon Jenkins, in a press release, who is the Kepler data analysis lead at NASA's Ames Research Centre in Moffett Field, California, who led the team that discovered Kepler-452b. 

Here's all you need to know about Earth's cousin:

- The Kepler-452b system is located 1,400 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus

- Kepler-452b is the smallest planet discovered orbiting in the habitable zone 

- It considered a super-Earth-size planet, as it is 60% larger in diameter

- Because it is farther from its parent star Kepler-452 than Earth is from the Sun, its 385-day orbit is only 5% longer

- Kepler-452b is 6 billion years old, making it 1.5 billion years older than our sun

- It has the same temperature, and is 20% brighter and has a diameter 10% larger

This size and scale of the Kepler-452 system compared alongside the Kepler-186 system and the solar system. Kepler-186 is a miniature solar system that would fit entirely inside the orbit of Mercury. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-CalTech/R. Hurt