Planets abound: Astronomers estimate that at least 100 billion planets populate the galaxy
Thursday, January 3, 2013 - 15:00
in Astronomy & Space
Look up at the night sky and you'll see stars, sure. But you're also seeing planets -- billions and billions of them. At least. That's the conclusion of a new study by astronomers that provides yet more evidence that planetary systems are the cosmic norm. The team made their estimate while analyzing planets orbiting a star called Kepler-32 -- planets that are representative, they say, of the vast majority in the galaxy and thus serve as a perfect case study for understanding how most planets form.