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A new statistical analysis based on archived data from NASA's Kepler probe for ESA exoplanets and Gaia shows that Earth-sized planets are probably in orbit around one in six stars similar to the Sun. According to the researchers, the study is the most accurate estimate of the potential population of worlds about the size of the Earth in the Milky Way.
"We used the final catalog of the planets identified by Kepler and the improved star properties of the Gaia spacecraft of the European Space Agency to build our simulations," said Danley Hsu, a postgraduate student at the Penn State University and first author of an article in The Astronomical Journal. .
"By comparing the results to the planets recorded by Kepler, we characterized the rate of planets per star and its impact on the planet's size and orbital distance. Our innovative approach allowed the team to take into account several effects that had not been included in previous studies. "
Based on their simulations, Hsu and Eric Ford, a Penn State State professor and head of the research team, found that one in six stars on average on a planet probably looked like a planet with a mass between three quarters and once and once that of the Earth with orbital periods. ranging from 237 to 500 days.
Given the uncertainties, the actual rate could reach a planet for two stars or as low as a planet for 33.
The study could play a role in designing missions and instruments designed to study the atmosphere of relatively close exoplanets in order to search for indicative biomarkers of life.
"Scientists are particularly interested in finding biomarkers … in the atmosphere of planets roughly the size of the Earth that gravitate around the" habitable zone "of Sun-like stars," Ford said. . "Knowing how often we should expect to find planets of a given size and orbital period is extremely useful for optimizing exoplanet surveys and the design of future space missions to maximize their chances of success. .
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