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In Christopher Nolan’s space odyssey, Interstellar, the lead actor, Matthew McConaughey looks into the sky and says “Mankind was born on Earth. It was never meant to die here.” And with that, the entire film goes on to find a new home for humans, leaving Earth behind in dirt. In real life the search continues and astronomers keep finding planets that could have or sustain life in the way our planet does. Now NASA’s Kepler mission has now confirmed the discovery of first near-Earth-size planet in the "habitable zone" around a sun-like star. And that means we are one step closer in finding Earth 2.0.

The discovery and the introduction of Kepler- 452b proves it to be the smallest planet in habitable zone – the area around a star where liquid water could pool on the surface of an orbiting planet. The discovery of Kepler- 452b is the confirmation of finding another Earth-like planet and is the most habitable one among the list of 1,030 confirmed planets discovered earlier. So what makes this planet better than other discoveries?

Kepler- 452b is 60 percent larger in diameter than Earth and is considered a super-Earth-size planet. While its mass and composition are not yet determined, previous research suggests that planets the size of Kepler- 452b is mostly rocky. Though the size of this planet is larger than Earth, the orbit period of Kepler- 452b is only 5 percent longer than Earth’s 365 days orbit time. And that means, the change in seasons and longevity of days and nights at Kepler – 452b might be similar to Earth. Even the temperature at Kepler- 452b is similar to what we have on Earth.