“The Earth May Not Be as Extraordinary as We Think”: Study Finds Earthlike Planets Are Common, but Not So for ‘Water Worlds’

By Christopher Plain – Debrief

An international team of scientists studying potential water worlds has determined that although sub-Neptune exoplanets made up of mostly water are likely rare, Earthlike planets may be much more common than previously thought.

Led by researchers from ETH Zurich, the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg, and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the findings may decrease the overall chances of life in the cosmos since water worlds were a common target for astrobiologists, but increase the chances of finding life on Earthlike planets that are yet to be discovered.