image: The artist's concept depicts Kepler-186f, the first validated Earth-size planet orbiting a distant star in the habitable zone -- a range of distances from a star where liquid water might pool on the surface of an orbiting planet. The discovery of Kepler-186f confirms that Earth-size planets exist in the habitable zone of other stars and signals a significant step closer to finding a world similar to Earth. The artistic concept of Kepler-186f is the result of scientists and artists collaborating to help imagine the appearance of these distant worlds. This image relates to a paper that appeared in 18 April, 2014, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The paper, by E.V. Quintana at SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., and colleagues was titled, "An Earth-Sized Planet in the Habitable Zone of a Cool Star." view more
Credit: [Art Credit: Danielle Futselaar]