Study: 8.8 billion Earth-size, just-right planets


November 4, 2013 at 8:30p.m.

Study: 8.8 billion Earth-size, just-right planets

WASHINGTON (AP) — Space is vast, but it may not be so lonely after all: A study finds the Milky Way is teeming with billions of planets that are about the size of Earth, orbit stars just like our sun, and exist in the Goldilocks zone – not too hot and not too cold for life. Astronomers using NASA data have calculated for the first time that in our galaxy alone, there are at least 8.8 billion stars with Earth-size planets in the habitable temperature zone.