NASA discovers planet similar to Earth might potentially provide answers to some of the planet's most pressing issues, including overpopulation, climate change, and unequal food distribution. The space agency will do additional investigation since the rare exoplanet discovered by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is the best to date to "host human life." Gliese 12 b, an Earth-like planet, is 40 light-years away.

NASA discovers planet
Source: Nasa

Through the continuous sky monitoring of TESS for around a month, the mystery planet was found. It found the planet G 12 b, whose existence of life is unknown, by observing variations in the brightness of thousands of stars in the planet's vicinity from 20 to 30 minutes.

The mission's primary goal is to record transits, which are periodic, transitory dimmings of stars caused by passing orbital worlds.

"We've found the nearest, transiting, temperate, Earth- size world located to date," The space agency quoted Masayuki Kuzuhara, a project assistant professor at the Astrobiology Center in Tokyo as saying. "Although we don't yet know whether it possesses an atmosphere, we've been thinking of it as an exo-Venus, with similar size and energy received from its star as our planetary neighbor in the solar system," the statement added.

Notably, multiple factors make it a candidate well- suited for further study using NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, whose cost goes up by millions. Not many details about the secret planet have been shared. However, it has an estimated surface temperature on 107 Degrees Farenheit if the plant does not have an atmosphere.

NASA discovers planet
Source: Space.com

The 'nearest, transiting, temperate, Earth-size world to date,' exoplanet is now being further looked into by NASA scientists to determine if it can maintain the right temperature for water to form on its surface.

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