Odds are on Oodles of Earths
EMBARGOED TO 2000 MONDAY NOVEMBER 4 Undated handout graphic issued by UC Berkeley of the "habitable zone", a term used by astronomers to indicate an orbit not too far from the star such that water freezes, and not too close such that water vaporises. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Monday November 4, 2013. One in five stars similar to the Sun is circled by an Earth-like planet that might be habitable, scientists believe. The nearest of them may be no more than a dozen light years away - just over the garden fence, in astronomical terms. Researchers came to the conclusion after reviewing four years' worth of data from the American space agency Nasa's Kepler space telescope. See PA story SCIENCE Planets. Photo credit should read: Petigura/Howard/Marcy/UC Berkeley/ PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
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November 4, 2013
| Credit | Petigura/UC Berkely, Howard/UH-Manoa, Marcy |
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Artist's representation of the "habitable zone," the range of planets where liquid water is permitted on the surface of the planet. The authors find that roughly one in five Sun-like stars harbor a planet between one to two times the size of Earth in the habitable zone.