A new study by the scientists at NASA‘s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA suggests that our galaxy may be more crowded than once thought.  The study discovered that one out of every 37 to one out of every 70 sun-like stars may have an Earth-like planet in its orbit, according to Space.com. These planets are at a position that liquid water could exist on the planet’s surface, according to the researchers.

These new calculations are based on data collected by the Kepler space telescope, which shocked the world in February by revealing 1,200 possible alien worlds, 68 of which were about the size of Earth. The spacecraft does so by looking for the dimming that occurs when a world transits or moves in front of a star.

What does the new data mean exactly?  “This means there are a lot of Earth analogs out there — two billion in the Milky Way galaxy,” researcher Joseph Catanzarite, an astronomer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told SPACE.com. “With that large a number, there’s a good chance life and maybe even intelligent life might exist on some of those planets. And that’s just our galaxy alone — there are 50 billion other galaxies.”

There could be billions of Earth-like planets just in the Milky Way Galaxy and that means that the likelihood of other life form is also greater.  After the researchers analyzed the four months of data in this initial batch of readings from Kepler, they determined that 1.4 to 2.7 percent of all sunlike stars are expected to have Earthlike planets — ones that are between 0.8 and two times Earth’s diameter and within the habitable zones of their stars.

There may be more life out there in these other galaxies.  The same scientists predict that about 12 Earth-like worlds will be discovered after three to four years of Kepler data is analyzed, according to Space.com. Four have already been seen just in the few months of data already released.  Kepler mission scientists have estimated that, altogether, there could be 50 billion planets in the Milky Way, though not all would be Earth-size worlds within the habitable zone of their local stars.

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About the author

Erin Chavez
Erin Whitney-Chavez has been writing professionally since 2009. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts from St. Bonaventure University and received a Master of Arts in mental-health counseling from Argosy University. Erin Whitney-Chavez is a licensed mental health counselor and has worked in the mental-health field for more than 10 years.

1 Comment for Two Billion Alien Earths May Exist in our Galaxy

Chaos

This reminds me of a debate I have had with friends and family in the past. The debate is the same as this subject “Other Earth like planets in our universe” or is there life outside of Earth?

OK so many have said if Hubble or radio scaning cannot see it then its not there.

My response is this, we may not be able to see anything clealry with our current technology in terms of extra terrasterial life but thats with technology now.

What about future tech like the tech being used in this mentioned in the above subject?

There is a far superior telescope to Hubble soon to be sent into space, what will we seen then???

So to say there is none full stop I feel is so ignorant!

I prefer there is nothing we can see at the moment and who knows with technology on the rise one day we may be able to wave at E.T. until then I will not say that we th talking monkies are the only living beings in the Universe.

Regards,

Chaos

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