HERE ARE FIVE OF THE MOST EARTH-LIKE PLANETS
One day, the Earth as we know it will be uninhabitable by human beings. Here are five of the most Earth-like planets that could be habitable.
Now look, the chances of a human being ever reaching one of these planets is slim, they're really far away. You may be wondering what the point of looking for them is then unless we discover a way to travel faster than the speed of light. Well, these planets all fly in the habitable zone around their suns, which means they may contain life.
This makes scientists very excited about the possibility that we may not be alone in the universe. We're not expecting little green men, but any life, no matter how small, would be an incredible discovery.
YouTuber, Joe Scott, takes us through just five of the many planets that have been discovered in these habitable zones in our solar system, as well as exo-planets beyond. The way that scientists find these planets is by using something called the Earth Similarity Index (ESI). This is a "mathematical model determining how closely a planet resembles planet Earth, with 1 being completely Earth-like," explains Joe.
There are three types of potentially habitable planets out there. Joe explains, "Subterran, which are smaller than Earth; Terran, which are close to Earth-sized; and Superterran, super-Earths that can be up to 2.5 times the radius of Earth and 10 times the Earth's mass".
There are other requirements, too, besides its size. It needs to have a rocky composition, it must have water, and it needs to be spherical, with a temperature range of 255 Kelvin.
Five of those are featured in Joe's video below. They've got bizarre names like Teegarden B and K2-72e, plus GJ 3323 b and GJ 1061 c, which sounds like codes for where they are in the sky. And then, there's the TRAPPIST-1 System too, that has seven Earth-like planets, with three of them in the habitable zone. Just like their names, this video is pack full of fascinating information, and you should hit that play button below immediately.