The Kepler space telescope has identified over 1200 potential exoplanets after only 1 year of operation. Kepler searches for exoplanets vi the transit method, i.e. watching for small dimming of stars as planets cross in front of them. Recently, members of the Kepler team confirmed the existence of a multi-planet system that contains two roughly Earth sized planets!
Kepler 20 has 5 five, and maybe more, planets orbiting it. Kepler 20-b,c and d are 2-3 times the size of Earth, while Kepler 20-e and f are 0.87 and 1.02 times the size of Earth! All of these planets sit within 0.4 AU of the host star, closer than Mercury sits to our sun. The image above shows the five planets and their position in relation to Mercury's orbit. The sizes are roughly to scale as well. It's unlikely that these planets host life because of their close proximity to the sun. NASA just released the data to the astronomy community today, so I'll keep you updated on any future discoveries about this system!
Image Credit: David A. Aguilar (CfA)
