Three Earthlike planets identified

It's not little green men, but it could be a step in that direction: astronomers, using data from the NASA Kepler Mission, have identified three Earthlike planets orbiting their own suns, all of which could be hospitable to life. The team of astronomers used the Cornell-built Near-Infrared Triple Spectrograph (TripleSpec) at California's Mount Palomar Observatory to measure the temperatures and metallicities of small stars called M dwarfs, first recorded by the NASA Kepler mission, which then led to observations of planets orbiting these stars. Kepler launched in 2009 to search for planets outside our solar system, which are called extrasolar planets or exoplanets. The team that built TripleSpec, completed in 2008, was led by Terry Herter, Cornell professor of astronomy. No. The discovery could lead to better studies of these planets and pave the way toward discovering planets just like Earth. The three planets orbit within their host stars' "habitable zones" - the orbital distance in which liquid water could exist, and the sweet spot for determining whether life could be possible.