Astronomers on Monday reported the discovery of an Earth-like planet outside the solar system whose size and distance from its own star put it in the "habitable" zone and make for a surface temperature perhaps averaging a balmy 72 degrees...
The planet, Kepler 22b, about 2.4 times wider than Earth, circles a star about 600 light years away...
"It is right smack in the middle of the habitable zone,"... Kepler 22b "is the smallest, most nearly Earth-size, planet ever found in the lukewarm zone around another sun where life could thrive."...
Via USA Today