NASA Says Our Galaxy Holds at Least 300 Million Potentially Habitable Planets

NASA Says , Our Galaxy Holds , at Least 300 Million Potentially Habitable Planets.

For many years, scientists around the world have studied data from the Kepler Space Telescope.

Kepler spent nine years identifying thousands of exoplanets in our galaxy.

Those scientists, who have published their findings in 'The Astronomical Journal,' .

Think there are approximately 300 million potentially habitable planets in our galaxy alone, and "there could be many more.".

Though this result is far from a final value, and water on a planet's surface is only one of many factors to support life, ... , NASA researcher and lead author Steve Bryson, via statement.

... it's extremely exciting that we calculated these worlds are this common with such high confidence and precision, NASA researcher and lead author Steve Bryson, via statement.

Many factors were considered when determining a planet's habitability, but for the first time, thanks to the European Space Agency's Gaia mission, .

Scientists were able to also factor the temperature of stars similar to our sun into the equation.

We always knew defining habitability simply in terms of a planet's physical distance from a star, so that it's not too hot or cold, left us making a lot of assumptions, NASA scientist and study author Ravi Kopparapu, via statement