'Most Earth-like alien world' found
- Published
Artist's impression of what Kepler 438b may look like in the future
Astronomers have found the closest example yet to a twin of planet Earth.
They've named it Kepler 438b and say it's about a tenth bigger than our planet and only receives about a third more heat from its sun than we do from our Sun.
Because of this it's being called the "most Earth-like alien world".
It's even more Earth-like that
Hot and red
But what would it be like if we could stand on Kepler 438b?
Scientist Dr Doug Caldwell from the Seti (the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) Institute in America says it would probably be warmer and the sky would look redder.
That's because its star is a red dwarf which gives off a more reddish light than our own Sun.
The planet was discovered by the Kepler telescope
However humans heading there is very unlikely: the planet is 475 light years away - and just one light year is around 6 trillion miles!
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