Photos: Searching for Earth-size planets

Scientists held an open meeting Thursday at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., to discuss plans for using NASA's new Kepler spacecraft to search for planets that may have extraterrestrial life.

NASA says Kepler will greatly expand the quest for planets orbiting stars by searching not just for giant, Jupiter-size planets, but smaller worlds that may contain liquid water, and possibly life.

Photo by James Martin/CNET News.com