Exoplanets - Searching for Other Planets Like Ours

Update: The Kepler Space Telescope was retired in 2018, and NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) is the next step in the search for planets outside of our solar system, including those that could support life.

Do planets outside our solar system, or exoplanets, also have living things? We don’t know! But NASA scientists are looking. They watch the starry skies for planets similar to Earth...

Comprehension Questions:
1. Planets that orbit around other stars outside of our solar system are called ____________.
2. True or false: We don’t know if exoplanets also have living things.
3. The _________ zone is the distance between a planet and star that would result in temperatures similar to that of Earth.
4. What is a transit?
5. What is the name of one NASA spacecraft that found thousands of exoplanets?

Answer Key:
1. Exoplanets
2. True
3. Habitable
4. When one object crosses in front of another in space
5. Kepler