Joel Kontinen
Today, we have heard of more exoplanets than ever before. Now, “3,917 planets have been confirmed in 2,918 star systems, while 3,368 await confirmation. Of these, about 50 orbit within their star’s circumstellar habitable zone (aka. “Goldilocks Zone”), the distance at which liquid water can exist on a planet’s surface."
However, recent research has suggested that we consider a habitable zone is too optimistic a concept. “According to a new study that recently appeared online, titled “A Limited Habitable Zone for Complex Life“, habitable zones could be much narrower than originally thought. These finds could have a drastic impact on the number of planets scientists consider to be “potentially habitable”.
The study’s head was “Edward W. Schwieterman, a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at the University of California, Riverside, and included researchers from the Alternative Earths Team (NASA Astrobiology Institute), the Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS), and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.”
Some have even posted that “100 billion billion” is the right number.
"To illustrate, the team used Kepler-62f as an example, a super-Earth that orbits a K-type star (slightly smaller and dimmer than our Sun) located about 990 light years from Earth.
When it was discovered in 2013, this planet was thought to be a good candidate for extraterrestrial life, assuming the presence of a sufficient Greenhouse Effect. However, Schwieterman and his colleagues calculated that it would take 1,000 times more carbon dioxide (300 to 500 kilopascals) than what existed on Earth when complex lifeforms were first evolving (ca. 1.85 billion years ago, as evolutionists like to admit)."
"In 2019 alone, research has been conducted that shows how red dwarf star systems may not have the necessary raw materials for life to form, and that red dwarf stars might not provide enough photons for photosynthesis to occur."
This years and the past years also, have might not been profitable for extraterrestrial sightings, as more often have turned out to become failures. Some exoplanets have challenged planet forming theories.
The easy ones have turned into failures .However our home planet turns out to be unique and also very effective.
Source:
Williams, Matt. 2019.Complex Life Might Require a Very Narrow Habitable Zone. Universetoday.com (3 March).
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