Eight more planets found that could hold life in 'Goldilocks zone'
Eight new planets have been discovered that could hold alien life in the “Goldilocks zone” of orbit – at just the right temperature for water.
Two of the small planets are the most Earth-like found so far, according to scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA).
They are orbiting distant stars in the habitable zone that is at the right temperature for liquid water to fuel organisms.
Too much heat from its star and it would boil away as steam. Too little, and the water would freeze solid.
All of the exoplanets are less than half the Earth’s size but could be rocky.
The lead author of the report, Guillermo Torres, announced the findings at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society on Tuesday. The research is also published in the Astrophysical Journal.
“Most of these planets have a good chance of being rocky, like Earth,” he said. “For our calculations we chose to adopt the broadest possible limits that can plausibly lead to suitable conditions for life.”
The two most Earth-like planets are known as Kepler-438b and Kepler-442b. Both orbit red dwarf stars that are smaller and cooler than our Sun.
See link for rest of article and pics:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/sc...e-9961351.html
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