A new analysis of known exoplanets has revealed that Earth-like conditions on potentially habitable planets may be much rarer than previously thought.
The work focuses on the conditions required for oxygen-based photosynthesis to develop on a planet, which would enable complex biospheres of the type found on Earth.
The number of confirmed planets in our own Milky Way galaxy now numbers into the thousands.
However planets that are both Earth-like and in the habitable zone—the region around a star where the temperature is just right for liquid water to exist on the surface—are much less common.
Source
The work focuses on the conditions required for oxygen-based photosynthesis to develop on a planet, which would enable complex biospheres of the type found on Earth.
The number of confirmed planets in our own Milky Way galaxy now numbers into the thousands.
However planets that are both Earth-like and in the habitable zone—the region around a star where the temperature is just right for liquid water to exist on the surface—are much less common.
Source