Massive boost in the hunt for alien life: Billions of exoplanets are more Earth-like than first thought, claims study

[kevindavis007]

In their hunt for alien life, astronomers have so far focused on looking for Earth-like planets around smaller, cooler suns.


But these exoplanets - despite having a chance of holding water - are believed to be locked in a rotation around their sun which causes only one side of their surface face the star.


Now astronomers claim that such exoplanets actually rotate around their stars, and spin at such a speed that they exhibit a day-night cycle similar to Earth – increasing the chance of finding alien life.


'Planets with potential oceans could have a climate that is much more similar to Earth's than previously expected,' said Jérémy Leconte, a postdoctoral fellow at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA) at the University of Toronto.


http://interstellar-news.blogspot.com/2015/01/massive-boost-in-hunt-for-alien-life.html