In the latest discovery from the Kepler Space Telescope, UW astronomer Eric Agol has identified Kepler-62f: an exoplanet in its star’s habitable zone, with a radius only 40% larger than Earth— making it the smallest potentially habitable exoplanet found to date. Kepler-62f has an orbital period of 267 days, and belongs to a multi-planet system orbiting a K2 dwarf star roughly 1200 light years from Earth. Although Kepler’s mass and density have not been measured, it is likely to have a rocky composition.
Read the UW News release here.