“Astronomers using NASA’s Kepler space telescope have confirmed a roughly Earth-size planet orbiting a sun-like star in the so-called “Goldilocks” zone where water can exist in liquid form on the surface and conditions may be favorable for life as it is known on Earth.

But astronomers say a planet known as Kepler-22b, orbiting a star some 600 light years from Earth, is the real thing.”

This is an artist concept … though if you look closely, you can see a Starbucks so it might be an actual photograph. 🙂

“It’s 2.4 times the size of the Earth, it’s in an orbital period (or year) of 290 days, a little bit shorter than the Earth’s, it’s a little bit closer to its star than Earth is to the sun, 15 percent closer.

“But the star is a little bit dimmer, it’s a little bit lower in temperature, a little bit smaller. That means that planet, Kepler-22b, has a rather similar temperature to that of the Earth…If the greenhouse warming were similar on this planet, its surface temperature would be something like 72 Fahrenheit, a very pleasant temperature here on Earth.”

72 degrees?! It’s San Diego – finally a less crowded place to hold Comic Con.

Yea, a backup planet – I hope the polar bears and dodo birds are tasty there. 🙂

You can read more at CNET.

And since it looks like Einstein might not be an Einstein and some neutrinos can travel faster than light, let’s retro-fit and fire up the Enterprise and head that-a-way. Neutrino Warp 12!

We can make a pit stop off at the real Tattooine planet with two Suns.