Ancient star with five Earth size planets discovered by astronomers

Astronomers have discovered a star that is 11.2 billion years old and has at least five Earth-size planets.
It was discovered by team of astronomer’s after analyzing data from NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft for over four years.
Key findings

• This star is named as Kepler-444. It is 25 percent smaller than our Sun and is 117 light years from Earth.
• It belongs to the first generation of stars and considered as part of one of the oldest systems in the galaxy.
• This star has five known planets which have sizes that fall between Mercury and Venus.
• These 5 planets are so close to their star that they complete their orbits in fewer than 10 days.
• This discovery is going to help astronomers learn more about the history of our solar system- Milky Way.

Month: Current Affairs - January, 2015