Feature Planetary Science

Planetary Peekaboo

Astronomers aren’t playing games when it comes to spotting an exoEarth

By Nadia Drake

- More than 2 years ago

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — On a bright June evening, residents of Anchorage packed the theater in Cyrano’s Off-Center Playhouse, ready to sample some otherworldly dispatches.

Kepler-22b, shown in the illustration above, is a recently confirmed exoplanet with an Earthlike orbit. NASA Ames, JPL-Caltech
Kepler has found Earth-sized exoplanets (illustration of Kepler-20e, above) and planets with Earthlike orbits.