#  NASA’s Kepler Spacecraft Announces Two Earth-Size Planets Are Discovered 

 





December 21, 2011

 

 

- [ News ](/news-categories/news)
 
 

 

[](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/21/science/space/nasas-kepler-spacecraft-discovers-2-earth-size-planets.html?_r=1)

   ![kepler20planetlineup-glry.jpg](/sites/g/files/omnuum6286/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/astronomy/files/kepler20planetlineup-glry.jpg?itok=NMK-5uiq) 

 

Astronomers from [NASA](http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_aeronautics_and_space_administration/index.html?inline=nyt-org)’s [Kepler spacecraft](http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/k/kepler_space_telescope/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) announced Tuesday that they had discovered a pair of planets the size of [Earth](http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/earth_planet/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier) orbiting a distant star. The new planets, one about as big as Earth and the other slightly smaller than Venus, are the smallest yet found beyond the solar system. Harvard Astronomy Professor [David Charbonneau](/people/david-charbonneau) was a member of the team that made the observations, led by his colleague [Francois Fressin](http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/ssp/contact.html).

- [New York Times Article](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/21/science/space/nasas-kepler-spacecraft-discovers-2-earth-size-planets.html?_r=2)
- [TIME Magazine Article](http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2102879,00.html)
- [NASA Kepler Press Release ](http://kepler.nasa.gov/news/nasakeplernews/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=172)(11-106AR)

*Image credit: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech*



 

 

 



 

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