Alien Planet Kepler-186f: Complete Coverage of 'Earth Cousin' Discovery

By Space.com Staff

Date: 18 April 2014 Time: 10:15 AM ET

This diagram shows the position of Kepler-186f in relation to Earth.
CREDIT: NASA Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-CalTech

On Thursday (April 17), NASA announced the historic discovery of Kepler-186f, an alien planet 490 light-years from our own world that is nearly the size of Earth and located inside the habitable zone of its parent star.

The planet Kepler-186f was discovered by scientists using NASA's planet-huntingKepler space telescope. The planet has a radius that is 1.1 times the radius of Earth, making it only slightly larger than our planet.

Main Story: Found! First Earth-Size Planet That Could Support Life
Scientists have discovered Kepler-186f, the first Earth-size alien planet in the habitable zone of its host star. See how so-called 'Earth cousin' might have water, and possibly life. Scroll down for Space.com's complete coverage of the historic find of Kepler-186f.