HARROW: Of all the planets in the solar system, Earth is distinctly hospitable to life because of its distance from the sun.
As our planet follows its orbit, it gets sufficiently close to the sun as to take advantage of solar energy, while staying just distant enough so the temperature on Earth is low enough to support life. The circular orbit that it follows is also crucial to maintaining a relatively stable climate.
Now, a new study published in the Astrophysical Journal suggests that planets roughly the same size as Earth follow a similar circular orbit — and this could be significant in the hunt for life outside the solar system.
Researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark and MIT looked at 74 exoplanets that are hundreds of light years away, and found that each of these planets orbited the center of its own solar system in a circular path. The scientists used NASA’s Kepler space telescope to discern the orbital periods of these planets.
The planets were were found to be about the same size as Earth, and unlike other planetary objects that tend to orbit extremely elliptical paths – getting dangerously close to their host star – these smaller planets retain a constant distance from their host star while orbiting their circular trajectory.
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