Hi Space.com and other astronomy fans,
As I'm sure some of you know that one of the most interested candidate but until recently definitely not confirmed Kepler planet was KOI 4878.01 or KOI 4878 b. However, a couple days ago, around the beginning of October 2022 an update on Extrasolar Encyclopedia at http://exoplanet.eu posted an update to this planet. They said they and still hold to it as it is still on their web site that this planet now called KOI 4878 b is confirmed. However, I have heard nothing else on space, general science or general media about this planet being now confirmed and any other place where I've seen mention of this planet say it is still unconfirmed or merely a Kepler candidate planet. So could anyone please tell me why Extrasolar Encyclopedia now say this planet is confirmed and why everyone else seems to ignore it or say that it is not yet confirmed. Is it because the confirmation paper is awaiting publication in a journal or some other reason and if some other reason what is that reason?
I would very much like to believe this planet has been confirmed but I am still hesitant at best to say that due to the lack of other sources saying it's confirmed or most other sources other than Extrasolar Encyclopedia saying it's not confirmed yet. The paper mentioned on Extrasolar Encyclopedia associated with this planet on their web site is one referencing getting better data on exoplanets from the TESS mission regarding transiting planets. As I'm sure some of you know, but I didn't know until recently, KOI 4878 is potentially the most Earthlike planet found with a preliminary ESI or Earth Similiarity Index value of 0.98. It orbits a very sunlike but somewhat hotter star than our sun with a surface temperature just over 6,000 degrees Kelvin and is of similiar mass and size as our sun. The planet is right in the middle of the habitable zone of its star with a year of 449 days and is very similiar to our Earth in size and probably mass. However, it is quite far away at over 1,000 light years from us.
Could anyone clarify to me why Extrasolar Encyclopedia has upgraded this planet to confirmed status but no other source seems to have done this at least yet as it would be really interesting or inspiring if this planet is confirmed but it seems too early to say that definitely yet.
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