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Oops. New Kepler planet NOT like Earth?

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Further to: NASA says new Earth-like planet found: from Real Clear Science:

Another problem is that Kepler-452b is alone. As far as we know, there are no other planets in the same system. This is an issue because it was most likely our giant gas planets that helped direct water to Earth.

At our position from the sun, the dust grains that came together to form the Earth were too warm to contain ice. Instead, they produced a dry planet that later had its water most likely delivered by icy meteorites. These frozen seas formed in the colder outer solar system and were kicked towards Earth by Jupiter’s huge gravitational tug. No Jupiter analogue for Kepler-452b might mean no water and therefore, no recognisable life.

All these possibilities mean that even a planet exactly the same size as Earth, orbiting a star identical to our sun on an orbit that takes exactly one year might still be an utterly alien world. More. Still more.

See also: Privileged Planet

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Comments
Peter, is it that inconvenient for you to re-read before hitting submit, so that the post you put forth has the slightest degree of comprehensibility?AnimatedDust
July 28, 2015
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One factor the most likely will never be found Island earth like planet with a moon. The moon collision forced off the toxic gases that make Venus uninhabitable. The angle of the collision hasn't be incredibly fine tuned as to not destroy the earth.Peter
July 27, 2015
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I'd skip the water thing. The gas giants in our solar system are Shields to attract and destroy space debris, including comets, that might otherwise regularly obliterate life on Earth. Among other jobs, the Moon provides our last ditch defense, which is why it is necessary that the Moon be exceptionally large compared with Earth. Life might exist on many planets at one time or another, but only a planet VERY much like Earth in a solar system VERY much like ours can possibly support complex life for 500 million CONTINUOUS years. The entire Galactic Core of Milky Way (and any similar galaxy) is a dead zone because the density of stars ensures that any planets that might exit are regularly bathed on enough radiation to STERILIZE their surfaces. There is a similar problem with solar systems that have the misfortune to form too close to unstable stars. The neighboring star will sterilize all of the planets. I think I'd seen an article that said the list of REQUIRED conditions for an "Earth-like" planet was up to something around 45. If a planet lacks even 1 of these, it ain't "Earth-like" and can't support life.mahuna
July 27, 2015
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