--- title: NASA Kepler Finds 10 More Potentially Habitable Planets description: NASA’s Kepler team added 219 new planets candidates to its catalog, 10 of which are potentially habitable and revealed other new discoveries canonical: https://time.com/4824143/nasa-kepler-habitable-planets/ author: Yifan Wang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-19T21:10:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:13:07.224Z article:section: Science og:title: NASA Kepler Finds 10 More Habitable Planet Candidates og:description: "How many planets like our Earth are in the galaxy?" og:url: https://time.com/4824143/nasa-kepler-habitable-planets/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fe78d9d3069bb23/6988d256196cf45435040ab3/nasa-kepler-mission-catalog.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Sun over Earth, artwork og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: NASA Kepler Finds 10 More Habitable Planet Candidates twitter:description: "How many planets like our Earth are in the galaxy?" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9fe78d9d3069bb23/6988d256196cf45435040ab3/nasa-kepler-mission-catalog.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # NASA Discovers 10 Potential Planets That May Be Habitable by [Yifan Wang](https://time.com/author/yifan-wang/) ## Yifan Wang Jun 19, 2017 9:10 PM UTC  Kepler has discovered 10 more potentially habitable planet candidates. Kepler has discovered 10 more potentially habitable planet candidates.ANDRZEJ WOJCICKI—Getty Images/Science Photo Library by [Yifan Wang](https://time.com/author/yifan-wang/) ## Yifan Wang Jun 19, 2017 9:10 PM UTC [NASA](http://time.com/4800797/nasa-mission-to-the-sun/) revealed Monday that one of its teams discovered hundreds of new potential planets, 10 of which may be habitable. The Kepler space telescope team added 219 new potential planets to its catalog, bringing its total findings over the first four years of observation to 4,034 planet candidates. Of those, 50 have now been flagged as [potentially habitable](http://time.com/4738515/nasa-enceladus-europa-moons-life/) because they are similar in size to [Earth](http://time.com/4677103/nasa-announcement-new-solar-system/) and 30 have been verified, [NASA announced](https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-releases-kepler-survey-catalog-with-hundreds-of-new-planet-candidates) from its Ames Research Center in California. “This carefully-measured catalog is the foundation for directly answering one of astronomy’s most compelling questions – how many planets like our Earth are in the galaxy?” said Susan Thompson, a Kepler research scientist and lead author of the study. The 10 new potential planets could be rocky, and orbit in a range called the “habitable zone,” which means there could be liquid water on their surfaces. The Kepler spacecraft will continue its mission to search for new potential planets and collect information about the galaxy. 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