Scientists say the Kepler spacecraft has uncovered a pnew lanet way out in outer space.  No, we aren’t talking about the all new queerplanet.net!

This new planet, dubbed Kepler 22b, evidently has a lot of similarities toEarth.  Although its really, really far away; the new planet has a lot of similarities to Earth.  Some of it’s Earth-like traits include a moderate temperature (scientists say it probably about 72 degrees there all the time), its rotation around a sun-like star and it evidently also has water.

On the flip side, Kepler 22 has it’s queer qualities as well.  Scientists at NASA believe this planet has mainly water and few spots with solid ground.  In addition, the water is at a constant temperature and doesn’t boil or freeze.  It’s year (if measured by how many times it orbits its sun) would be only 290 days compared to 365 here on earth.  Kepler 22 is also said to be 2.4 times larger than Earth.

The biggest downfall is that Kepler 22 is estimated to be 600 light years from Earth.  However, scientists say they will use technology to listen for movement on the planet that would signify that there is life form there as well.

Online universities have astronomy classes if you want to learn more of these kinds of stories.