17 billion Earth-sized planets in Milky Way: study
- Published: 8 Jan 2013 at 09.45
- Online news: World
The Milky Way contains at least 17 billion planets the size of Earth, and likely many more, according to a study that raises the chances of discovering a sister planet to ours.
The Milky Way illuminates the sky above the telescope at Chile's La Silla Observatory in this image provided by the European Southern Observatory on January 11, 2012. The Milky Way contains at least 17 billion planets the size of Earth, and likely many more, according to a study that raises the chances of discovering a sister planet to ours.
Astronomers using NASA's Kepler spacecraft found that about 17 percent of stars in our galaxy have a planet about the size of Earth in a close orbit.
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