Scientists are convinced that they will find such a world by 2014

Apr 4, 2012 08:51 GMT  ·  By

NASA Headquarters exoplanetary biology researcher Shawn Domagal-Goldman is convinced that the American space agency's Kepler Telescope will discover another Earth within two years. The term is used to refer to a planet outside our solar system that is capable of supporting life as we know it.

This hypothetic second Earth will be about the size and mass of our own planet, will have a similar atmosphere, will lie in its parent star's habitable zone, and will have liquid water on its surface.

In other words, the planet will largely replicate all the conditions here on Earth, perhaps even life. Given that organic molecules are spread throughout the Universe, it is not unreasonable to assume that life may develop anywhere a suitable habitat is found.

Given that the large number of exoplanets found thus far – more than 750 confirmed worlds and about 2,300 that have yet to be studied in detail – it's safe to say that we will find a world that resembles ours in most respects, analysts say.

The NASA researcher believes this discovery will be made within the next two years. Thus far, most of the words Kepler and other observatories discovered are gas giants, of equal or larger size than Jupiter.

“I believe Kepler will find a 'Goldilocks planet' within the next two years. We'll be able to point at a specific star in the night sky and say 'There it is – a planet that could support life'!” the NASA expert said in a recent statement.

At NASA, investigators are already beginning to think of ways to analyze this potential planet, once it is discovered. Existing methods of studying exoplanetary atmospheres or surfaces are not too precise, and experts want to change that.

Such studies could be conducted using the Fast INfrared Exoplanet Spectroscopy Survey Explorer (Finesse), a proposed space mission that would look at alien worlds using the transit spectroscopy method, Space reports.

Another proposed mission is the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (Tess), an observatory partially supported by Google. Its mission will be to analyze stars in a 50-light-year radius from the Sun, and study any exoplanets it encounters in our vicinity.

“We've found so many unexpected things about planets that now I expect to be amazed. When we can study a Goldilocks planet, I believe we'll discover something revolutionary about how life interacts with a planetary environment. Nature is so much more diverse than we anticipated,” Domagal-Goldman concluded.