Census: There are 50 billion planets in the Milky Way
The cosmic space scientists conduct first census in the Milky Way. As a result, an estimated 50 billion planets in the galaxy.There are at least 500 million planets in the region that is not too hot and not too cold - where there may be life. The estimated amount is based on preliminary results obtained by the planet hunters telescope, Kepler's U.S. space agency, NASA.
Kepler scientist, William Borucki, said the number of planets have been obtained from observations of small zones in the night sky, and then make estimates on the basis of assumptions, each star has a number of planets. Kepler to calculate the planets as it passes between the Earth and orbits a star.
So far, Kepler had found an estimated 1235 candidates planet could sustain life, 54 of them located in the Goldilocks zone. Kepler mission is not to examine each planet, but provides an illustration on how many planetary astronomers, especially those potentially habitable living things.
Borucki and his colleagues describe, one of the two stars have planets, and one more than 200 stars have a potentially habitable planet living. This estimate was published in the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Saturday, February 19, 2011.
It's only a minimum estimate, because these stars may have more than one planet. Kepler was not able to see the planets in the outer side of the star.
For example, if Kepler's 1000 light years away from Earth and see the sun, when Venus passed, there is the possibility of 1:8 Kepler's view of Earth.
To get the estimated total number of planets, scientists use a frequency that has been applied and applying it to some of the stars in the Milky Way.
Before the census carried out, the scientists assume, there are 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, meanwhile, last year, astronomers at Yale University, estimates there are 300 billion stars.
The amount of that only exist in the Milky Way. Imagine the amount of the entire planet in the universe. Moreover, the number is estimated there are 100 billion galaxies.
Borucki said the latest calculations based on this census will lead to the question, is there other life out there. "Next question, why did they not visit us on Earth," said Borucki, as published by the Associated Press Sunday, February 20, 2011. The answer? "I do not know," he said. (Art)