Milky way stuffed with 50 billion planets

[The Straight Story]

How's this for an astronomical estimate? There are at least 50 billion exoplanets in our galaxy. What's more, astronomers estimate that 500 million of these alien worlds are probably sitting inside the habitable zones of their parent stars.

So how many of these exoplanets have life? Unfortunately, there's no estimate for that question.

This announcement was made on Saturday by Kepler science chief William Borucki at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington D.C. However, Kepler didn't actually count 50 billion exoplanets, this number comes from extrapolations of the data taken so far by the exoplanet-hunting space telescope.

For example, as Kepler has spotted 1,235 exoplanet candidates so far -- 53 of which orbit stars in their habitable zones -- knowing approximately how many stars there are in our galaxy (there are thought to be around 300 billion stars in the Milky Way), an estimate can be made of how many worlds are orbiting these stars.



http://news.discovery.com/space/milky-way-stuffed-with-50-billion-alien-worlds.html

[AlabamaLibrul]

1. I was very disappointed to find that this wasn't about chocolate. n/t

[The Straight Story]

2. ...

[AlabamaLibrul]

5. Re: ...

[petronius]

3. Me too. But then I realized that 50B planets would be too many calories, even for me...

[Liberal_in_LA]

25. hee! I thought about the candy first.

[Poll_Blind]

4. Classic hoarder. My mother was like this. You should have seen our den.

PB

[Motown_Johnny]

6. The Drake Equation is now ~50 years old and is more relevant than ever

http://www.activemind.com/Mysterious/Topics/SETI/drake_equation.html

^snip^

The Drake Equation was developed by Frank Drake in 1961 as a way to focus on the factors which determine how many intelligent, communicating civilizations there are in our galaxy. The Drake Equation is:

N = N* fp ne fl fi fc fL






Try the Drake Equation Yourself

Try your hand at the Drake Equation. For each variable choose what you think is the best answer from the combo box. After you've chosen all your answers press the calculate button and see how many communicating civilizations you think there are in the galaxy.

[joshcryer]

10. Yep, and Kepler just helped us fill in half of it!

[Ikonoklast]

7. But a Mars Bar still only has one!

Glad to see some things haven't changed.

Harrumph!

[Arugula Latte]

8. The number of planets in our little galaxy alone is absolutely mind-blowing.

And think about the billions and billions of galaxies, each with billions and billions and billions of planets (okay, I sound Carl Saganish).

And yet many humans still think that we're the center of the universe and the last 2,000 years were the only ones that matter.

[Quixote1818]

9. I wonder how many millions of planets Jesus has had to die on? nt

[The Straight Story]

11. Other civilizations probably wouldn't have killed him (nt)

[Pathwalker]

33. There's a Bush joke about that. I hope it doesn't get me in trouble.

Here it is: The aliens showed up in Bush's office one day for a visit. After awhile, George asked them if they knew who Jesus is. "

Oh sure, they replied. We listened to all his teachings, followed his advice, and now we no longer have poverty or war. We loves him so much, we even celebrate his birthday. In fact, he comes back from time to time to see how we're doing. Why - what did you guys do when you saw him?"

:scared:

[Arugula Latte]

12. Jesus is a busy boy!

:rofl:

[Quixote1818]

16. And that is just the Milky Way! If you throw in all the other Galaxy's

there may be a trillion out there with life on them. So Jesus has had to die perhaps a trillion times! Not to mention many stars and planets have come and gone and he would have had to hit them as well. I bet every time a new planet garners life Jesus is thinking to himself "Jesus Christ father! Not another planet I have to go be tortured on! Why have you forsaken me for the trillionth time!"

[Arugula Latte]

22. Well, you know, God is a helicopter parent, apparently.

Also, it's best not to think about it all too much. It's all part of the plan (and there IS a plan, you know!). Ours is not to question. It'll all be revealed in the end.

:rofl:

[pipi_k]

20. OK I just figured it out...

Why the RWnuts don't want to believe there are other habitable planets, I mean...


What if Jesus returned to the "wrong" planet?


Shit. He could even be wandering around on planet Bleurgh, two million light years away, and they would never even know it!!!


:cry:

[Arugula Latte]

23. He should have gotten a GPS.

He turned right at the Virgo Cluster instead of left.

[Cleita]

13. Great! When do I get to go to one of them.

I'm sick of this one.

[MikeH]

14. And you know which way to look to find the Milky Way

To find the North Star, one looks to the North. Which way does one look to find the Milky Way?



The udder way.

[Cleita]

15. No wonder it was so much brighter, actually

stunningly brighter when I lived in South America.

[TahitiNut]

18. It's stunningly bright ...

... out in the middle of the Atlantic under shipboard black-out conditions. Only then could I easilly understand how our ancestors saw the stars ... before light pollution and before industrial air pollution. Even what we see from remote rural or "outback" locations doesn't compare to the ENORMOUS number of stars that're visible many hundreds of miles from any aritificial light source. The Milky Way (literally) looked almost solid ... like a swath of milk. Unimaginable. Words just don't convey how stunning it is.

[Cleita]

24. That's the way it is.

I was living close to the Andes in the Atacama desert away from light pollution and clouds actually. It really did look solid.

[Arugula Latte]

26. ba da boom!

*chhhhhh*

[avaistheone1]

17. It's really geting crowded in here.

[AsahinaKimi]

19. I love the Universe....however

I love CHOCOLATE MORE!

[Arugula Latte]

27. There could be a chocolate planet out there, you know.

:9

[indepat]

21. Just can't seem to get my mind wrapped around the vastness of

space. ;)

[frylock]

28. and nougat

[Ghost in the Machine]

29. No wonder I feel so full after eating one!

:hi:

[Phoonzang]

30. And all ours.

Or will be once we cleanse them of Xenos filth.

[eppur_se_muova]

31. Snickers has peanuts -- Milky Way has none.

What?

Never mind.

[CommonSensePLZ]

32. More like there's 50 billion planets sprinkled in

They're pretty small by comparison.