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'Hundreds of Worlds' in Milky Way

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the nothing-to-eat-there-but-roddenberries dept.

Raphael Emportu writes "BBC news is reporting that rocky planets, possibly with conditions suitable for life, may be more common than previously thought in our galaxy, a study has found. New evidence suggests more than half the Sun-like stars in the Milky Way could have similar planetary systems. There may also be hundreds of undiscovered worlds in outer parts of our Solar System, astronomers believe. Future studies of such worlds will radically alter our understanding of how planets are formed, they say."

1 of 334 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Aquatic life? by Bender0x7D1 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    There are plenty of volcanoes under the water here on Earth. Could those serve as a source of fire?

    Perhaps primitive marine creatures would realize that some sort of algae-like food source grows better in the warmer waters around these "glowing liquid not-water" sources and start building walls around them to hold in that temperature. Sort of like farming - but with algae instead of regular "crops". This would give them a stable food source and they could get to thinking about other things.

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