Interesting new study published recently with relevancy to the Drake equation.
How many Earth-like planets are around sun-like stars?
So this study is billed as the best estimate to date of the number of "earth-like" planets in orbit around "sun-like" stars.
If you are wondering how those terms are defined for purposes of the research, a sun-like star is an FGK star (link) and an earth-like planet is a planet "from three-quarters to one-and-a-half times the size of earth, with orbital periods ranging from 237 to 500 days". So basically a planet roughly the size of the earth, roughly in a similar orbit to the earth, around a star roughly the size of our own sun.
So their middle estimate is one in four, with one in two at the high end of the range and one in 33 at the low end. So that seems pretty common.
Obviously, to be sure, those parameters do not mean that all or even most of those hypothetical planets would be hospitable to life as we know it. Many are probably closer to Venus or to Mars. But if as a wild guess, 1 in 10 is more like earth than Mars or Venus? What would that imply about the frequency of planets where life is possible?
Never mind intelligent life. If anything, I think it would be cool if the first planet we discover with extraterrestrial life doesn't have an intelligent species like us. That way it wouldn't be a threat and if we could somehow get people there (I know, not easy) we could be the dominant species and just think of all the scientific things we could learn.
How many Earth-like planets are around sun-like stars?
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Date: August 14, 2019 Source: Penn State Summary: A new study provides the most accurate estimate of the frequency that planets that are similar to Earth in size and in distance from their host star occur around stars similar to our Sun. |
If you are wondering how those terms are defined for purposes of the research, a sun-like star is an FGK star (link) and an earth-like planet is a planet "from three-quarters to one-and-a-half times the size of earth, with orbital periods ranging from 237 to 500 days". So basically a planet roughly the size of the earth, roughly in a similar orbit to the earth, around a star roughly the size of our own sun.
So their middle estimate is one in four, with one in two at the high end of the range and one in 33 at the low end. So that seems pretty common.
Obviously, to be sure, those parameters do not mean that all or even most of those hypothetical planets would be hospitable to life as we know it. Many are probably closer to Venus or to Mars. But if as a wild guess, 1 in 10 is more like earth than Mars or Venus? What would that imply about the frequency of planets where life is possible?
Never mind intelligent life. If anything, I think it would be cool if the first planet we discover with extraterrestrial life doesn't have an intelligent species like us. That way it wouldn't be a threat and if we could somehow get people there (I know, not easy) we could be the dominant species and just think of all the scientific things we could learn.
via International Skeptics Forum https://ift.tt/2NjJ7k2
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