Possibilities of life are not supposed, the planet is too close to the parent star and the surface is roasted. However, its existence suggests there may be more habitable worlds than first thought. The Kepler-10 star system (scientific name for this planet) is thought to be 11 billion years old, meaning it formed less than three billion years after the birth to the universe. It circles its sun-like parent star every 45 days. The planet has a diameter more than twice that of the Earth. Gravity at the surface is about twice that of Earth’s gravity. The planet was originally spotted by Nasa’s Kepler spacecraft. Observations made from the Italian Galileo National Telescope in the Canary Islands confirmed that it has 17 times the mass of the Earth. The scientists expect now that more mega-Earths will be found. Potentially habitable worlds could be located in our cosmic neighborhood.
