Milky Way Flush With Habitable Planets

A study based on 151 multi-planetary systems found by NASA's Kepler space telescope shows that most have a planet -- or two or three -- at the right distance for liquid surface water, a condition believed to be necessary for life.

Scientists combined data collected by the Kepler telescope with computer models replicating preferential structures of planetary systems to calculate the likelihood that planets would end up in life-friendly orbits — those properly distanced from their parent stars for liquid surface water.

The results of the study, published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, indicate that billions of stars in the Milky Way have planets in so-called "habital zones" suitable for liquid water – and possibly life.

The study identifies candidate planetary systems properly positioned for follow-up studies to confirm suspect sister planets in habitable zones.

"If they are found, it is an indication that the theory stands up," astronomer Steffen Kjær Jacobsen, with the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen, said in a statement.

From Discovery News