NASA announces it has discovered more planets than ever before

Space may be the final frontier, but NASA scientists announced Tuesday afternoon it may have more occupants than we expect.

The agency said its Kepler space telescope, which has been seeking habitable planets beyond our solar system, has discovered 1,284 verified planets orbiting other stars. The discovery more than doubles the number of exoplanets previously confirmed by the spacecraft to 2,325, and makes this the largest number of planets the agency has ever announced discovering.

“This gives us hope that somewhere out there, around a star much like ours, we can eventually discover another Earth,” said NASA chief scientist Ellen Stofan in a statement.

The Kepler telescope, named for the German astronomer who described the laws of planetary motion, has been seeking planets beyond our solar system that might also be able to sustain life. It was launched in 2009 and has remained operational despite losing some functionality in 2013.

The telescope identifies possible planets by measuring the brightness of the stars they orbit, and analyzing how dim the stars get when planets pass in front of them. That data is then analyzed to determine those planets’ sizes and orbits, as well as if they might be able to sustain life like Earth.

But for those seeking so-called “Goldilocks” planets like Earth, they are still few and far between among the thousands of potential planets Kepler has identified. Natalie Batalha, a Kepler mission scientist, said Tuesday that the spacecraft has found about 550 rocky planets like Earth, but that only 21 orbit their star at a distance that could foster life. The most recent announcement of planets accounts for nine new verified planets that might be able to sustain life based on their size and the heat of their parent star.

“This work will help Kepler reach its full potential by yielding a deeper understanding of the number of stars that harbor potentially habitable, Earth-size planets,” Batalha said in a statement, adding that the mission’s discoveries are “needed to design future missions to search for habitable environments and living worlds.”

This story was originally published May 10, 2016 at 11:41 AM with the headline "NASA announces it has discovered more planets than ever before."