The odds of an exoplanet being Earth-like in the sense that it could be successfully inhabited by humans are, well, astronomical. Many specific environmental qualities must be in place.
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But a recently-discovered planet about 86 light years away from our solar system ticks off some of the essential factors. LP-791-18 b orbits a red dwarf star. It doesn’t rotate, so one side is always facing its sun and the other is always away from its sun. But, NASA reports, it’s volcanically active, so it could have water condensation on the dark side.
CalTech says that planet is about 1.46 times the size of Earth, so the gravity might be acceptable to humans. It orbits its star at a Goldilocks distance–not to hot and not too cold. These are essential characteristics of planet that could at least hope to serve as a refuge for humans.
-via Marginal Revolution | Artist’s visualization courtesy of NASA
Source: neatorama