NASA's Kepler telescope finds largest trove of exoplanets

May 11, 2016 00:04

The largest trove of planets outside our solar system -- 1,284 in all -- was announced today, more than doubling the number of known exoplanets found with the Kepler space telescope, NASA said today.

"This announcement more than doubles the number of confirmed planets from Kepler," said Ellen Stofan, chief scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

"This gives us hope that somewhere out there, around a star much like ours, we can eventually discover another Earth."

The unmanned Kepler space observatory, which launched in 2009, has been scanning 150,000 stars for signs of orbiting bodies, particularly those that might be able to support life.

It works by observing a dimming in the light of star, known as a transit, each time an orbiting planet passes in front of it.

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