NASA says its Kepler Mission has discovered an earth-size planet similar to our own. The new discovery, called Kepler-452b orbits around a sun-like star.<br /><br /> While it is the smallest planet to be discovered in habitable zone – the area around a star where liquid water could pool on the surface of an orbiting planet – scientists believe they are on the right track to discovering a planet with similar properties to earth. <br /><br /> “On the 20th anniversary year of the discovery that proved other suns host planets, the Kepler exoplanet explorer has discovered a planet and star which most closely resemble the Earth and our Sun,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington.<br /><br /> “This exciting result brings us one step closer to finding an Earth 2.0.”<br /><br /> The planet has a 385-day orbit and is only 5% farther from its star than earth is to its sun.<br /><br /> “We can think of Kepler-452b as an older, bigger cousin to Earth, providing
