One in Five Sun-Like Stars May Have Earth-Size

[Doum]

NASA's Kepler space telescope, now crippled and its four-year mission at an end, nevertheless provided enough data to answer its main research question: How many of the 200 billion stars in our galaxy have potentially habitable planets?


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Share This:Based on a statistical analysis of all the Kepler observations, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Hawaii, Manoa, astronomers now estimate that one in five stars like the sun have planets about the size of Earth and a surface temperature conducive to life.

Given that about 20 percent of stars are sun-like, the researchers say, that amounts to several tens of billions of potentially habitable, Earth-size planets in the Milky Way Galaxy.

NASA's Kepler space telescope, now crippled and its four-year mission at an end, nevertheless provided enough data to answer its main research question: How many of the 200 billion stars in our galaxy have potentially habitable planets?
"When you look up at the thousands of stars in the night sky, the nearest sun-like star with an Earth-size planet in its habitable zone is probably only 12 light years away and can be seen with the naked eye. That is amazing," said UC Berkeley graduate student Erik Petigura, who led the analysis of the Kepler data.



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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 152720.htm

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Kepler and Its Impact on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, a talk by Frank Drake
NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA
Tuesday, November 5, 2013 from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM (PST)
Reserve free, required tickets: http://drakeonkepler.eventbrite.com/

<<NASA's Kepler mission has answered, finally, some of the prime questions to be answered when we consider the possible existence of extraterrestrial intelligent life and how we might find it. Now we know that almost all stars have planetary systems. Of special importance, the very numerous red dwarf stars have planetary systems, a situation which many astronomers have thought unlikely. I will discuss how the planets of red dwarfs and larger stars might be habitable, what hazards there might be to life, and how life, with its wonderful ability to evolve and adapt, might defend itself against these hazards. Many of the solutions to survival can be found already in the solar system.

Frank Drake, who conducted the first modern SETI experiment in 1960, continues his life-long interest in the detection of extraterrestrial sentient life. He participates in an on-going search for optical signals of intelligent origin, carried out with colleagues from Lick Observatory and the University of California at Berkeley, using the 40-inch Nickel telescope at Lick. Frank also continues to investigate radio telescope designs that optimize the chances of success for SETI (he proposed the plan used in the design of the Allen Telescope Array, based on some of his work of more than forty years ago.) He is also interested in the possibility that the very numerous red dwarf stars, stars that are much less bright than the Sun, might host habitable planets. In this regard, he has noted that the behavior of various objects in our own solar system – in particular the resonances between their rotation and orbital periods – when applied to some of the newly discovered extrasolar planets, strongly suggests that most planets orbiting red dwarfs will not keep one face towards their star, and thus are more likely to be habitable. If this is proven correct, it will increase by almost ten times the probable number of habitable planets in the Milky Way.>>

[bystander]

Astronomers answer key question: How common are habitable planets?
University of California, Berkeley | 2013 Nov 04

Astronomers Conclude Habitable Planets Are Common
University of Hawaii | Institute for Astronomy | 2013 Nov 04

One in Five Stars Has Earth-sized Planet in Habitable Zone
W.M. Keck Observatory | 2013 Nov 04

Kepler Results Usher in a New Era of Astronomy
NASA | Ames Research Center | 2013 Nov 04

22% of Sun-like Stars have Earth-sized Planets in the Habitable Zone
Universe Today | Nancy Atkinson | 2013 Nov 04

Galaxy Hosts 10 Billion 'Habitable' Earth-Size Worlds
Discovery News | Irene Klotz | 2013 Nov 04

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Prevalence of Earth-size planets orbiting Sun-like stars - Erik A. Petigura, Andrew W. Howard, Geoffrey W. Marcya

• Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (online 2013 Nov 04) DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1319909110

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Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[Tumbleweed]

I wonder if we'll find kittens, puppies and bunnies on those planets. No reason why not.

[geckzilla]

Planet Waist-Deep Cats would be a good starting point.

[BMAONE23]

There could be one that has mountains of RIGHT sox and left gloves

[BMAONE23]

It's alive! After suffering a critical injury last year, NASA's Kepler space telescope has just observed an exoplanet for the first time in months. The Jupiter-sized world is not a new discovery – it was found by another telescope – but spotting it again with Kepler is solid evidence that, following a few modifications, the famed planet-hunter is ready to get back to work.

[orin stepanek]

In searching for ET one must consider that millions of civilizations may have gone extinct, and millions more may not have blossomed yet; remember Earth is billions of years old, and has had radio for very few years! So that would limit the number of advanced civilizations capable of communication; besides the distance of the signal may not reach us until after we are gone!