Our Solar System: Rare Species In Cosmic Zoo

astroengine writes "Pulling from 20 years of research since the first discoveries of planets beyond our solar system, scientists have concluded that Earth and its sibling worlds comprise what appears to be a relatively rare breed in a diverse cosmic zoo that includes a huge variety of planet sizes, orbits and parent stars. The most common systems contain one or more planets one to three times bigger than Earth, all orbiting much closer to their parent stars than Earth circles the sun, says astronomer Andrew Howard, with the University of Hawaii."

Comments

Re:God made it.

[Black Parrot]

As that was a plot point in Star Trek Enterprise.

I think that the main issue is that people see the TV shows and movies and think that "life" has to look like that.

But those are just theatrics so that human actors can play the parts. Look at the variations of life on Earth. From whales to worms.

Are you telling me that the galaxy isn't full of people who grow lumps of rubber on their heads?