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The following list includes some of the potentially habitable exoplanets discovered so far. It is mostly based on estimates of habitability by the Habitable Worlds Catalog (HWC), and data from the NASA Exoplanet Archive. The HWC is maintained by the Planetary Habitability Laboratory at the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo. [1]
Planetary habitability in the Solar System is the study that searches the possible existence of past or present extraterrestrial life in those celestial bodies. As exoplanets are too far away and can only be studied by indirect means, the celestial bodies in the Solar System allow for a much more detailed study: direct telescope observation, space probes, rovers and even human spaceflight.
Understanding planetary habitability is partly an extrapolation of the conditions on Earth, as this is the only planet known to support life.. Planetary habitability is the measure of a planet's or a natural satellite's potential to develop and sustain an environment hospitable to life. [1]
On November 4, 2013, astronomers reported, based on Kepler space mission data, that there could be as many as 40 billion Earth-sized planets orbiting in the habitable zones of Sun-like stars and red dwarf stars within the Milky Way galaxy. [7] [8] Eleven billion of these estimated planets may be orbiting Sun-like stars. [9]
Finding Earth-like life on another planet would require that planet orbit within its star's habitable zone, a certain set of distances at which water on the surface is a liquid.
Based on the serious problems for planetary habitability presented by red dwarf systems and stellar bodies of type F or higher, the only stars that might offer a bearable scenario for life would be those of type K and G. [1] Solar analogs used to be considered as the most likely candidates to host a solar-like planetary system, and as the best ...
To support an Earth-like atmosphere for about 4.6 billion years (Earth's current age), a moon with a Mars-like density is estimated to need at least 7% of Earth's mass. [20] One way to decrease loss from sputtering is for the moon to have a strong magnetic field of its own that can deflect stellar wind and radiation belts.
This is a list of unconfirmed exoplanets discovered or detected by the NASA Kepler mission (Kepler Candidates from the NASA Exoplanet Archive) that are potentially habitable. [1] [2] Those already confirmed are listed by their Kepler names in the list of potentially habitable exoplanets, and the data may differ when the planets are confirmed ...