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comment by ecib
ecib  ·  4563 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: 34% of Sun-like stars might have terrestrial planets in their habitable zones.
>His math looks good to me. But a couple of assumptions he had to make need to be pointed out, and I want that to be clear before the media start running around saying there are billions of Earths in the galaxy based on this.

My favorite line in the article. I was just in NY talking to a friend of mine who runs a lab about the ridiculous state of science reporting, and how small, steady steps foreword are spun into fantastic conclusions and promises by journalists as they attempt to distill the subject for a popular audience.

On a side note, even if the 34% number is off significantly, that's still an astronomical amount of potentially habitable planets :)





mk  ·  4563 days ago  ·  link  ·  
On a side note, even if the 34% number is off significantly, that's still an astronomical amount of potentially habitable planets :)

Yeah, even if it was less by a factor of ten, we could have almost an endless supply to study. Now we just need that faster-than-light thing to be true...