The Milky Way

The Milky Way Over the Oregon Coast (click to enlarge)





















"Stars over the sunflower" SE Queensland, Australia (click to enlarge)

"There are likely billions of Earth-like planets in our Milky Way galaxy, astronomers say"

There are likely "tens of billions" of Earth-like planets in our Milky Way galaxy, according to a study released Monday by astronomers from the University of California-Berkeley and the University of Hawaii.

"Planets like our Earth are relatively common throughout the Milky Way galaxy," said astronomer Andrew Howard of the University of Hawaii.

In fact, the nearest Earth-like planet may be "only" 12 light years away, which is roughly 72 trillion miles.

Overall, astronomers now estimate that about one in five sun-like stars have planets that are nearly the size of Earth and also have a surface temperature conducive to the development of life.

USA Today, Doyle Rice