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NASA has revealed that there are around 300 million planets outside of our solar system, but in the Milky Way they are potentially habitable.
Light years
Of that large number of planets, four are within 30 light years of Earth and the closest is only 20 light years away, according to the US Space Agency.
Scientists analyzed data from the Kepler Space Telescope, which launched in March 2009, and found that nearly half of stars, which have a temperature similar to that of the sun, on average 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit, can orbit planets rocks with liquid water on their surface.
Kepler detected about 150,000 stars in a region of the Milky Way during a mission that lasted three and a half years. Scientists have reached the figure of 300 million, based on the assumption that 7% of stars similar to the sun have habitable worlds orbiting them.
However, they indicated that the actual figure could reach 75%, which would take the figure from 300 million to around 3 billion.
Kepler Mission
Data from the Kepler Deep Space Telescope, which ceased operations in October 2018 after eventually running out of fuel, led to the discovery. The Kepler mission was originally scheduled to last 3.5 years, but the strict use of fuel allowed the spacecraft to continue operating for 9 years, 7 months and 23 days. Its mission was to search the sky, near and far, for planets orbiting other stars.
Kepler has discovered more than 2,600 worlds outside of our solar system and has statistically proven that the Milky Way is home to more planets than stars.
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