Earthlike planets could be common in the universe

December 11, 2003 | Source: KurzweilAI

New research indicates Earthlike planets might be common. In 44 computer simulations of planet formation near a sun, astronomers found that each simulation produced one to four Earthlike planets, including 11 “habitable” planets about the same distance from their stars as Earth is from our sun.

The simulations show that the amount of water on Earthlike planets could be greatly influenced by outer gas giant planets like Jupiter. The findings are significant because of the discovery in recent years of a large number of giant planets such as Jupiter and Saturn orbiting other suns. The presence of those planets can be inferred from their gravitational interaction with their parent stars and their effect on light from those stars as seen from Earth.

There could be planets such as ours around a number of other suns relatively close to our solar system. A significant number of those planets are likely to be in the “habitable zone,” the distance from a star at which the planet’s temperature will maintain liquid water on the surface, thought to be a requirement for life.

University of Washington press release