Some juicy numbers to start the new year with, courtesy of the Kepler planet-sniffing satellite, which is doing a great job, exceeding expectations and deserves a raise. Recent data sez Kep has found reasonable evidence for no less than 461 new planets. Some of ’em orbit within their stars’ watery-microbial-maybe-more habitable zone. So that’s nice.
(….Hey, look! A chart! Thanks, NASA.)
But even more Sagan-licious: the data indicates that virtually every sun-like star in our galaxy has an Earth-size planet careening around it. Doing the math in my head (yeah. right.) that totals up to roughly 17 billion-with-a-B Earth-twins out there just waiting for us to discover and shortly thereafter begin bombarding with reality TV shows and used car commercials. Some of these earthy orbs orbit tighter than our Mercury, so could be a little too hot (but it’s a dry hot) for life. On the other hand, lots of the host stars are red dwarfs, so burn much cooler than Sol, so life is back in the equation. Presto.
Final analysis: potential exoplanets chalked up on the big board so far? 2,740, orbiting 2,036 stars.
These, my friends, are champagne-popping figures in any earther’s book. Happy New Year, and keep watchin’ the skies….