--- title: NASA Discovers New Earth-Like Planet description: NASA has discovered an earth-like planet orbiting around a star, what a NASA researcher called a "bigger, older cousin to Earth." canonical: https://time.com/3969886/nasa-discovers-earth-planet/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-23T17:02:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:58:26.529Z article:section: Science og:title: NASA Discovers New Earth-Like Planet og:description: It's a "bigger, older cousin to Earth" og:url: https://time.com/3969886/nasa-discovers-earth-planet/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltff94fe09bb41b817/69885c2e2dce01c4fe9e4c2b/452b_artistconcept_beautyshot.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4533 og:image:height: 2550 og:image:alt: This artist's concept depicts one possible appearance of the planet Kepler-452b, the first near-Earth-size world to be found in the habitable zone of star that is similar to our sun. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: NASA Discovers New Earth-Like Planet twitter:description: It's a "bigger, older cousin to Earth" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltff94fe09bb41b817/69885c2e2dce01c4fe9e4c2b/452b_artistconcept_beautyshot.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # NASA Discovers New Earth-Like Planet > Sponsored content. 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A Year in Space - Ep.1: Leaving Home_  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jul 23, 2015 5:02 PM UTC  This artist's concept depicts one possible appearance of the planet Kepler-452b, the first near-Earth-size world to be found in the habitable zone of star that is similar to our sun. This artist's concept depicts one possible appearance of the planet Kepler-452b, the first near-Earth-size world to be found in the habitable zone of star that is similar to our sun. NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Jul 23, 2015 5:02 PM UTC NASA has discovered an Earth-like planet orbiting around a star, which a NASA researcher called a “bigger, older cousin to Earth.” Kepler 452b was discovered on NASA’s Kepler mission orbiting in the habitable zone around a sun-like star, or the zone in which liquid water could pool on the surface of an orbiting planet, [according to a NASA statement](https://www.nasa.gov/jpl/finding-another-earth). About 12 planets had previously been discovered in habitable zones that had similarities to earth, but, “Kepler-452b fires the planet hunter’s imagination because it is the most similar to the Earth-sun system found yet,” NASA’s statement says. “A planet at the right temperature within the habitable zone, and only about one-and-a-half times the diameter of Earth, circling a star very much like our own sun.” Along with Kepler 452b, this mission also found 11 other small habitable zone planets. “This exciting result brings us one step closer to finding an Earth 2.0,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. _Read next:_ [_See the Evolution of the Iconic Blue Marble Photo_](http://time.com/3964886/earth-blue-marble-photos/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Listen to the most important stories of the day_](http://time.com/newsletter/the-brief/autoplay/?xid=spl-fullbrief-article) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3969886/nasa-discovers-earth-planet/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3969886/nasa-discovers-earth-planet/"},"headline":"NASA Discovers New Earth-Like Planet","datePublished":"2015-07-23T17:02:20.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:58:26.529Z","description":"It's a \"bigger, older cousin to Earth\"","url":"https://time.com/3969886/nasa-discovers-earth-planet/","keywords":["Space","NASA","earth","Outer Space","solar system","planet"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltff94fe09bb41b817/69885c2e2dce01c4fe9e4c2b/452b_artistconcept_beautyshot.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltff94fe09bb41b817/69885c2e2dce01c4fe9e4c2b/452b_artistconcept_beautyshot.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"This artist's concept depicts one possible appearance of the planet Kepler-452b, the first near-Earth-size world to be found in the habitable zone of star that is similar to our sun.","caption":"This artist's concept depicts one possible appearance of the planet Kepler-452b, the first near-Earth-size world to be found in the habitable zone of star that is similar to our sun.","creditText":"NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. 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