A new study claims that the Milky Way is home to billions of planets positioned at the ‘habitable zone.’
Above: Multiple Planets in the Habitable Zone. Credit PHL @ UPR Arecibo, NASA.
Top image: Habitable Exoplanets. Credit NASA
According to the new study based on 151 multi-planetary systems found by NASA’s Kepler space telescope, a lot more planets than thought before are at the right distance for liquid surface water, which is necessary to harbor life.
The Habitable Zone. Credit PHL @ UPR Arecibo, NASA.
Steffen Kjær Jacobsen, co-author of the study published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society journal, said:
“We decided to use this method to calculate the potential planetary positions in 151 planetary systems, where the Kepler satellite had found between three and six planets…But we only made calculations for planets where there is a good chance that you can see them with the Kepler satellite.”
If there are billions of habitable planets in the Milky Way, can you imagine how many exist in the Universe that holds billions of Galaxies!
Kepler-11, a star system crammed with 6 exoplanets — its existence defies conventional planet-forming wisdom. Credit NASA/Tim Pyle.
via discovery
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