Michelle Kunimoto has a knack for finding exoplanets, or planets that orbit stars outside of our solar system. The University of British Columbia astronomy student found four while she worked on her undergraduate degree. Now a doctoral candidate, she has discovered an additional 17 planets by poring over data from NASA's Kepler mission, which ended in 2018.
One is found within the habitable zone of its star. The distance allows for temperatures and conditions that could be right for liquid water -- and life -- to be on the surface. Potentially habitable exoplanets are of particular interest to Kunimoto and her research.
A study including her findings was published Thursday in The Astronomical Journal.
"This planet is about a thousand light years away, so we're not getting there anytime soon!" said Kunimoto in a statement. "But this is a really exciting find, since there have only been 15 small...
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