A scientist has created a formula to calculate the worth of planet Earth and has valued it at three thousand trillion pounds.
Astrophysicist Greg Laughlin came up with the figure by calculating the sum of the planet’s age, size, temperature, mass and other vital statistics – and Earth came out as the most expensive.
Mars was only valued at £10,000, while Venus is said to be worth less than a penny.
There are about 1,235 (in case) other planets in the universe , most of which weren’t given a high price tag because of their inhospitable climates.
The planet-hunting spacecraft went into orbit two years ago and a year later Laughlin decided to create price tags for the terrestrial planets that Keplar was set to discover.
At the time, the exoplanet Gliese 581 c was considered the most Earth-like world known to scientists, but the equation only valued it at £100, while KOI 326.01 is said to be worth £150,000.
The older the star, the more value it has because it has had the chance to mature, the mass is then taken into account and generally if it’s around the same size as Earth it is thought of as a good size for supporting life.
Laughlin also took into account the amount of energy the star creates and whether its temperatures could also support life.
The professor concluded that planets with a value of £60 million or more are worth studying but the ones worth less aren’t.
He also said: ‘The formula makes you realise just how precious Earth is and I hope it will help us as a society safeguard what we have.
How can we put a value on the Earth? We don’t even know one planet that is an equivalent. If someone only has one example, the value is priceless.
More importantly, why are we looking at things inherent value to determine if they are worth studying? We don’t know what something is worth until we study it. This seems like putting the cart before the horse.
Earth is precius. It is also a base for calculations now that we discover new planets.