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Habitable Planets May Be Common
swight1701 writes "New Scientist tells us, "one in four of the planetary systems identified to date outside the Solar System are capable of harbouring other Earths, say astrophysicists, a much higher proportion than anyone expected." Two seperate groups have come up with results that line up with each other, the latest one using simulations of 85 systems. Warm up the warp engines, time to go planet hopping!"
"one in four of the planetary systems identified to date outside the Solar System are capable of harbouring other Earths"
The operable word here is capable.
Half of these planets won't have oxygen, another 49.9% will be too cold.
This study is referring to the distance of the star to the planet being far enough that the sun doesn't fry the planet.
They say their are habitable for life...why do we always assume every life form will be exactly like us and need our environment to thirve?
Up to this point in the history of our world, certain things are required for all life as WE know it. If we're searching for life on other planets, wouldn't that be a good place to start?