earth

About 500 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus lives a star, which, though smaller and redder than the sun, has a planet that may look awfully familiar.

With a diameter just 10 percent bigger than Earth's, the newly found world is the first of its size found basking in the benign temperature region around a parent star where water, if it exists, could pool in liquid form.

Scientists on the hunt for Earth's twin are focused on worlds that could support liquid surface water, which may be necessary to brew the chemistry of life.

NASA's Kepler Space Telescope recently discovered an Earth-like planet orbiting a nearby star within the habitable zone of our galaxy. Kepler-186f is approximately 500 light-years from Earth in the Cygnus constellation.

This piece of rock is 4.4 BILLION years old. DAYUM!

esearchers involved in the discovery said that the discovery was of high scientific value. Earth's crust formed relatively quickly after the formation of our planet, and this little gem is a remnant of the original crusty crew. According to the University of Wisconsin scientist who led the investigation, John Valley, the survival of the crystal suggests that the early planet was not quite as harsh a place as commonly accepted in the scientific community. It lends support to the "cool early Earth" theory, which says that hydrosphere and liquid water existed before 4.3 billion years ago.

I hope lizards take over the world.

Via NASA:

What does the Earth look like during a total solar eclipse? It appears dark in the region where people see the eclipse, because that's where the shadow of the Moon falls. The shadow spot actually shoots across the Earth at nearly 2,000 kilometers per hour, darkening locations in its path for only a few minutes before moving on. The featured image shows the Earth during the total solar eclipse of 2006 March, as seen from the International Space Station. On Friday the Moon will move in front of the Sun once again, casting another distorted circular shadow that, this time, will zip over part of the north Atlantic Ocean.