Billions of potentially habitable planets discovered in the Milky Way

Source: nydailynews.com - 

Water can exist on the 'Super-Earths,' found orbiting red dwarf stars

Billions of “super-Earths” may be orbiting in our Milky Way galaxy, shedding exciting light on the idea that life in space does exist.

Researchers from the European Southern Observatory discovered the planets during a study of red dwarf stars, which make up about 80% of all stars in the galaxy, according to the report, which was published online Wednesday.

“Because red dwarfs are so common – there are about 160 billion of them in the Milky Way – this leads us to the astonishing result that there are tens of billions of these planets in our galaxy alone,” said Xavier Bonfils of Grenoble University in France, who led the study.

The team surveyed a sample of 102 red dwarf stars and found that about 40% have a rocky, Earth-sized planet orbiting around them in the “habitable zone,” which is where liquid water can exist.

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