A group of astronomers have released a new estimate of the number of Earth-sized planets in the life-bearing "Goldilocks Zone" surrounding each of our galaxy’s red dwarf stars: tens of billions. That’s right, there could be more than enough Earth-like planets in the Milky Way for every single human alive today to have their own. The already enormous estimate would only increase in size if you factor in the remaining 20% of stars in our galaxy that are not red dwarfs.
This could have very large implications in the search for life in the cosmos, and could make Fermi’s Paradox even more puzzling. Regardless of the answer to our lack of extraterrestrial contact, it remains exciting to imagine there are so many planets out there than humans could one day, far in the future, explore!
Ten Billion Earth-Like Planets May Exist in Our Galaxy [Wired]
Image: NASA
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