500 million Planets in our Galaxy, could possibly support Life!
Scientists searching for extraterrestrial life focus on “Goldilocks Planets“; these are planets which fall into a star’s habitable zone. Planet Earth seems to have exactly the right conditions for life to exist – its distance from the Sun means the temperature is right, water can exist as a liquid solid and a gas, and there are the right combination of chemical compounds available to build complex life forms. Other planets thought to have similar features are known as Goldilocks planets.
In the Milky Way alone there are estimated to be 500 million potential Goldilocks planets, so if life can exist in places other than Earth there is a huge number of potential planets on which it might thrive. If these numbers are applied to all the galaxies in the universe there could be a staggering variety of planets capable of supporting life. Of course, we have no evidence life exists elsewhere, but if it does there are plenty of places for it to set up home.
Original source: http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/20-extraordinary-and-inspiring-facts-about-the-universe.html
thanks.. i forgot to post it
This is one of my favorite subjects, thanks for posting, @taxidermy183
I think about those deep sea vents, where they did not expect to find life. Crushing pressure, no life fueling sunlight, and what did they find? Life. A different type of life. John Varley, one of my favorite speculative fiction writers envisioned giant gaseous beings from the gas giants, Saturn & Jupiter. In other words, it's speciocentric of us to assume that life only occurs within our mechanic or chemistry.
Image from Pixbay by Skeeze
Carbon lifeforms will most likely be found in the Goldilocks zone, I can only imagine what other life forms could exist out there. In fact, the 'Verse could be teeming with all kinds of life. Hopefully, just not Mynocks. What a pain in the butt THOSE things would be!
Image from Wookiepedia