NASA has announced the discovery of 1,284 new planets, with some 550 deemed to be Earth-sized, and 9 believed to be in a "habitable zone" that could support life. The Kepler Space Telescope, launched in 2009 and 75 million miles from Earth, discovered the "exoplanets," adding to the 984 exoplanets the telescope has detected since its launch, and confirmed by researchers at Princeton University.
(photo: The Kepler Space Telescope's field of view looking out into our Milky Way galaxy. NASA)
