Source: slate.com
This picture is an artist’s depiction of what the rocky planet Kepler-186f might look like. On April 17, 2014 astronomer’s announced that they had found this planet using the transit method, making it the first confirmed earth-size exoplanet in the habitable zone! There is no data yet on whether or not Kepler-186f has an atmosphere or has any water in its atmosphere, but astronomer’s that it is in the right location in its star system to have liquid water.
While much of what is said regarding Kepler-186f at this point is mere speculation, it does tell astronomers that earth-size planets in the habitable zone might not be a rare occurrence. While it is too distant to determine its atmospheric composition with telescopes, we soon may have the capability to get accurate data on it, which could tell us if Kepler-186f has water or not. Whatever the results, knowing that we now have the technology to at least find earth-size planets means that the next several years could greatly change how we foresee the future of astrobiology.
jameswjohnsonvandy 
How far away exactly is Kepler-186f from Earth? Also, since it is similar in size to Earth, is its star and location in relation to it similar to how our planet is with the sun?
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Kind of crazy to think that we’ve found so many planets through this method and are only just now finding one Earth-sized. I kind of wonder about the “artist’s depiction” though, considering how little we know about it haha. Always so hopeful!
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Yes the artist’s depiction is quite skeptical! It is however accurate in size relative to Earth. Kepler-186f is just under 500 light-years from Earth, so in the grand scheme of things, it’s actually pretty close to us! And it actually orbits around the outer regions of an M star’s habitable zone (making it actually closer in temperature to Mars than Earth, but still within the habitable zone). The star is colder than our sun, so the planet is actually farther in (less than half of an AU) and orbits its parent star about every 130 earth days.
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Grader comments: Very interesting! The artist’s depiction looks quite Mars-like… Hopefully this is just one of many discoveries of Earth-like exoplanets to come.
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