Kepler-452

Kepler-452b was announced by NASA in 2015 as the first near-Earth-sized planet discovered orbiting within the habitable zone of a Sun-like star. This made it a key milestone in the search for potentially habitable worlds. Its host star, Kepler-452, is a G-type star similar to our own Sun.

Kepler-452 is a G-type main-sequence star, meaning it is broadly similar to the Sun in temperature and size, though slightly older and somewhat more luminous. This star type is significant because Sun-like stars are prime targets in the search for Earth analogs. The star is located in the constellation Cygnus.

Kepler-452 is located approximately 1,400 light-years from Earth in the constellation Cygnus. This vast distance means that current technology cannot directly observe its planet, Kepler-452b, in detail. The planet was detected using the transit method, measuring dips in starlight as the planet passed in front of its star.

Kepler-452b orbits within its star's habitable zone, where liquid water could theoretically exist, but scientists caution that habitability depends on many unknown factors such as atmosphere, mass, and composition. The planet is somewhat larger than Earth, classifying it as a super-Earth. No direct evidence of life or even an atmosphere has been detected.