--- title: New Earth-like Planets Discovered By NASA's Kepler Telescope description: NASA's Kepler mission discovers three earth-like planets existing in their star's "Goldilocks zone." canonical: https://time.com/3678418/nasa-kepler-mission-milky-way-exoplanet/ author: TIME Video article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-22T16:22:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-01T09:02:35.792Z article:section: Science og:title: New Earth-like Planets Discovered By NASA's Kepler Telescope og:description: The Kepler mission just found three new planets in the 'Goldilocks zone' of a star og:url: https://time.com/3678418/nasa-kepler-mission-milky-way-exoplanet/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81e044c3bf1066b4/69877b473c1639dab345151b/kepler-1920-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1920 og:image:height: 1080 og:image:alt: New Kepler Planets og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: New Earth-like Planets Discovered By NASA's Kepler Telescope twitter:description: The Kepler mission just found three new planets in the 'Goldilocks zone' of a star twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81e044c3bf1066b4/69877b473c1639dab345151b/kepler-1920-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 01:58 video:published: 2015-01-22 section: science topics: exoplanets, Kepler telescope, Goldilocks zone, Earth-like planets, liquid water, rocky planets, space exploration, planetary discovery genre: news report, educational explainer tones: curious, awe-struck, informative, hopeful emotions: curiosity (high), wonder (high), excitement (medium) sentiment: positive audience: science enthusiasts, students, general news audiences, space followers organizations: NASA, TIME products: Kepler space telescope transcript_source: publisher captions transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # How NASA Finds 'Super Earths' Where Alien Life Might Flourish > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=380c8429-8bb0-427b-971c-05ab69dd71af&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: New Earth-like Planets Discovered By NASA's Kepler Telescope [Watch (HLS stream): New Earth-like Planets Discovered By NASA's Kepler Telescope](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fCApPc72.m3u8) (1:58)  _Published 2015-01-22. NASA's Kepler mission discovers three earth-like planets existing in their star's "Goldilocks zone."_ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary The video introduces NASA's Kepler space telescope, which has been orbiting the sun since 2009 to search for exoplanets by watching for dips in starlight as planets pass in front of their stars. It explains the mission's goal of finding Earth-sized planets in a star's Goldilocks zone, where liquid water can exist. It reports the discovery of two such planets, which may be rocky like Earth, and frames Kepler's work as part of humanity's curiosity about what lies beyond our own world. ## Key points - Kepler has been orbiting the sun since 2009 and its job is to look for exoplanets orbiting stars other than the sun. (00:05) - Kepler stares at a single patch of the Milky Way without blinking and looks for flickers in starlight caused by planets passing in front of their suns. (00:19) - The biggest goal of the Kepler mission is to find Mirror Earths, planets around the size of Earth orbiting in a sun's Goldilocks zone. (00:36) - The Goldilocks zone is described as the place where it's not too hot and not too cold, just right for water to exist in liquid form. (00:47) - Water is described as the essential ingredient for life as we know it. (00:55) - Two planets were discovered orbiting in the Goldilocks zone, almost certainly warm enough for liquid water but not too warm. (01:03) - The discovered planets are close to the size of Earth, suggesting they could be rocky worlds like Earth rather than giant gas balls like Neptune and Jupiter. (01:14) - Humanity is compared to fish in an aquarium, looking out from one side of the glass at the wider universe. (01:31) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:36] Kepler's search for exoplanets. The Kepler telescope's role and method of detecting planets passing in front of their stars are introduced. - [00:36 to 01:03] The Goldilocks zone and Mirror Earths. The mission's main goal and the significance of liquid water for life are explained. - [01:03 to 01:58] Two new planets and humanity's curiosity. The two discovered planets are described and the importance of such missions is framed in terms of human curiosity. ## Key quotes - [01:31] narrator: "humanity is a little bit like fish in an aquarium" - [01:03] narrator: "Were two planets that are orbiting their sun in the Goldilocks Zone" - [01:18] narrator: "This suggests they could be rocky worlds like Earth is, as opposed to giant gas balls like Neptune and Jupiter are." ## Questions this video answers - What is the Kepler space telescope designed to do? [00:05] - How does Kepler detect planets orbiting other stars? [00:19] - What is the Goldilocks zone? [00:43] - Why is liquid water significant for finding life? [00:51] - Why might the newly discovered planets be easier places for life to take hold? [01:14] by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Jan 22, 2015 4:22 PM UTC NASA's Kepler mission discovers three earth-like planets existing in their star's "Goldilocks zone." by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video Jan 22, 2015 4:22 PM UTC Since 2009 NASA’s Kepler Mission has been exploring the Milky Way using an extraordinary powerful space telescope. Their mission is to discover “exoplanets” or Earth-like planets that could, in theory, be habitable for human life. But what makes a planet habitable? Scientists say habitable planets should be in an area round the star known as the “Goldilocks zone,” where it isn’t too hot or cold for water to exist on the surface in liquid form. Thus far, the mission has confirmed many such candidates, including a [significant discovery](http://arxiv.org/abs/1501.03798) of three planets announced in January 2015. Jeffrey Kluger explains the significance of this newest discovery and the importance for humanity to continue space exploration. ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [00:05] The Kepler space telescope is a telescope that has [00:08] been orbiting the sun since 2009 and its whole job is [00:12] to look for what are known as exo- planets, planets [00:15] orbiting stars other than the sun. It stares at a [00:19] single patch. At the Milky Way without blinking, forever. [00:24] And what it's looking for are flickers in starlight that [00:27] indicate a planet passing front of its sun, slightly [00:32] dimming the light that reaches us. The biggest goal [00:36] of the Kepler mission is to find what astronomers call [00:39] Mirror Earths. Planets like ours around the size of [00:43] Earth, orbiting in what's called, a Sun's Goldilocks [00:47] Zone. The place where it's not too hot, not too cold. [00:51] just right for water to exist in liquid form. Water, of [00:55] course, is the essential ingredient for life, as we know [00:58] it. What we just discovered. Were two planets [01:03] that are orbiting their sun in the Goldilocks Zone, [01:07] almost certainly warm enough, but not too warm. Not [01:11] too cold for water to exist in liquid form. And they're [01:14] also close to the size of Earth. This suggests they could [01:18] be rocky worlds like Earth is, as opposed to giant gas [01:21] balls like Neptune and Jupiter are. And that's [01:24] significant because that's an easier place for life to [01:27] take hold. Missions like Kepler are important [01:31] because humanity is a little bit like fish in an aquarium. [01:33] It might be the most magnificent, most richly equipped [01:37] aquarium in the world, but we're on one side of the [01:41] glass. We're looking out. We're looking across the living [01:44] room, out the window of the house, down the block. [01:48] We wanna get there. Our curiosity makes us ache to [01:50] get there. 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