Billions of Habitable Planets in the Milky Way

Scientists have discovered that at least 100 so-called "Super Earths" orbiting Red Dwarf stars in the "habitable zone" may have life.

And where there is water that can exist on the surface of a world, then there is the chance for life there.

Dr. Xavier Bonfils, from Grenoble University in France, who lead the international team researching the red dwarfs/super Earths said the following: "Because red dwarfs are so common - there are about 160 billion of them in the Milky Way - this leads us to the astonishing result that there are tens of billions of these planets in our galaxy alone." end quote.

The international team looked at 102 red dwarfs using the European Southern Observatory's 3.6 meter telescope located at La Silla, Chile.

Quoting the article:  A total of nine super-Earths - planets with masses between one and 10 times that of Earth - were found. Two were located within the habitable zones of the stars Gliese 581 and Gliese 667 C. end quote.

THe team also discovered that giant planets like Jupiter or Saturn were rare around red dwarfs.  Less than 12 percent were expected to have such "gas giants."

ANd now for the most important bit of news from this news article.  The science team estimates there are about 100 habitable zone planets within 30 ligh years of Earth.

Check out the link below to view the entire article.



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1. Telegraph.co.uk. "New 'life in space' hope after billions of 'habitable planets' found in Milky Way" by Telegraph writers(unnamed). March 28, 2012. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/9170683/New-life-in-space-hope-after-billions-of-habitable-planets-found-in-Milky-Way.html).

A Super Earth Found 35 Light Years Away

Space.com is reporting that 50 new alien planets - including one "Super" Earth that could support life, has been discovered by the European Southern Observatory (ESO).

Sixteen worlds fall into the "Super" Earths category including one specific world in orbit of HD 85512 b. A star in the southern constellation of Vela (the Sail). This world is estimated to be about 3.6 Earth masses and is in the outermost region of the habitable zone of HD 85512 b.

Observations were made with the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher instrument, or HARPS. The HARPS spectrograph is part of ESO's 11.8-foot (3.6-meter) telescope at the La Silla Observatory in Chile.

Quote: "This is the lowest-mass confirmed planet discovered by the radial velocity method that potentially lies in the habitable zone of its star, and the second low-mass planet discovered by HARPS inside the habitable zone,” said exoplanet habitability expert Lisa Kaltenegger, of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany and Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Boston.

"I think we're in for an incredibly exciting time," Kaltenegger told reporters in a briefing today (Sept. 12). "We're not just going out there to discover new continents — we're actually going out there to discover brand new worlds." end quote.

Total confirmed extra solar planets discovered so far is now 564 alien worlds.

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Ref.

1. Space.com. "'Super-Earth,' 1 of 50 Newfound Alien Planets, Could Potentially Support Life" by Denise Chow. September 12, 2011. ( http://www.space.com/12915-habitable-alien-planet-hd-85512b-super-earth.html ). image from same article on Space.com.