NASA discovers 10 new Milky Way planets that may have conditions appropriate for life

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has discovered 10 new planets that it says have “significant implications for the search for life”.

According to a June 19 media release, the 10 rocky planets are among 219 new discoveries. They are of special interest because NASA found them in their star’s so-called “Goldilocks zone”, where conditions are likely not too hot nor too cold for life to exist.

“NASA’s Kepler space telescope team has released a mission catalog of planet candidates that introduces 219 new planet candidates, 10 of which are near-Earth size and orbiting in their star's habitable zone, which is the range of distance from a star where liquid water could pool on the surface of a rocky planet,” the release reads.

Mario Perez, NASA’s Kepler program scientist, expressed excitement for the find.

“The Kepler data set is unique, as it is the only one containing a population of these near-Earth analogs—planets with roughly the same size and orbit as Earth,” he said in the release. “Understanding their frequency in the galaxy will help inform the design of future NASA missions to directly image another Earth.”

The 10 planets are located in the Cygnus constellation, a section of the Milky Way galaxy about 3,200 lightyears from Earth's solar system.