earthlike1.jpg

What are the odds of finding a habitable planet elsewhere in the universe? Turns out, it's getting better. A new study is saying that one in five Sun-like stars has an Earth size planet in the habitable zone. That means, there could be 20 billion Earth-size planets in the Milky Way alone.

If those calculations are correct, the closest Earth-size planet in the habitable zone is only 12 light years away. So near yet so far, right?

"Earth-sized planets having the temperature of a cup of tea are common around sunlike stars," Geoff Marcy, a Berkeley astronomer and co-author of the research paper. "[This] represents one great leap toward the possibility of life, including intelligent life, in the universe." Actually, when you put it that way, this is potentially horrible news for the rest of us because, you know, aliens are scary.

It is important to note that Earth-size doesn't mean Earth-like. But if there are 20 billion of them, there's a good chance at least one could be like ours.

[Space.com, Washington Post]