Kepler captures our cousin

So after being a tease for the better part of a week, NASA finally announced Kepler's latest find: an exoplanet they describe as "Earth's older cousin." According to this press release from JPL,

"The newly discovered Kepler-452b is the smallest planet to date discovered orbiting in the habitable zone -- the area around a star where liquid water could pool on the surface of an orbiting planet -- of a G2-type star, like our sun. The confirmation of Kepler-452b brings the total number of confirmed planets to 1,030."

Posted by David from material provided by Brett