The largest planets in the universe. Scientists have estimated how many planets are in our galaxy and how many of them are potentially suitable for life

Most of the stars have a system of planets. The question arises, how many are there in total? There must be billions of extraterrestrial worlds in our Galaxy alone!

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On a clear night, when light interference is not a major factor, the sky looks spectacular with a huge number of stars open to view. But, of course, we can only see a small fraction of the stars that actually exist in our Galaxy. What's even more amazing is that most of them have their own planetary system. The question arises, how many exoplanets are there? There must be billions of extraterrestrial worlds in our Galaxy alone!

So let's assume that the eight planets that exist within the solar system represent the average. The next step is to multiply this number by the number of stars that exist within the Milky Way. The actual number of stars in our Galaxy is a matter of some debate. Essentially, astronomers are forced to make rough estimates because we cannot view the Milky Way from the outside. And given that it is in the shape of a barred spiral, the galactic disk is the most difficult to study due to the interference of light from its many stars. As a result, the estimate is based on calculations of the mass of our Galaxy, as well as the mass fraction of stars in it. From this data, scientists estimate that the Milky Way contains between 100 and 400 billion stars.

Thus, the Milky Way galaxy could have between 800 billion and 3.2 trillion planets. However, in order to determine how many of them are habitable, we must consider the number of exoplanets studied so far.

As of October 13, 2016, astronomers have confirmed the presence of 3,397 exoplanets out of 4,696 potential candidates that were discovered between 2009 and 2015. Some of these planets were observed directly through direct imaging. However, the vast majority have been detected indirectly using the radial velocity or transit method.

The histogram shows the dynamics of exoplanet discovery by year. Credit: NASA Ames/W. Stenzel, Princeton/T. Morton

During its initial 4-year mission, the Kepler space telescope observed about 150,000 stars, which were mostly M-class stars, also known as red dwarfs. When Kepler entered a new phase of the K2 mission in November 2013, it shifted its focus to studying K- and G-class stars, which are almost as bright and hot as the Sun.

According to a recent study conducted by NASA Ames Research Center, Kepler found that about 24% of M-class stars may have potentially habitable planets comparable in size to Earth (those that are no more than 1. 6 times the radius of the Earth). Based on the number of M-class stars, there may be about 10 billion potentially habitable, Earth-like worlds in our Galaxy.

In addition, analysis of the K2 results suggests that about one quarter of large stars may also have Earth-like planets orbiting within habitable zones. Thus, it can be estimated that there are literally tens of billions of planets potentially suitable for the development of life in the Milky Way alone.

In the coming years, the James Webb and TESS space telescope missions will be able to detect smaller planets orbiting dim stars, and perhaps even determine whether any of them harbor life. Once these new missions get underway, we will have more accurate estimates of the size and number of planets that exist in our Galaxy. Until then, their estimated number is encouraging: the chances of extraterrestrial intelligence are very high!

Koprulu Sector

Ayur system

The Aiur star system has four worlds that orbit the sun. Golden Orb of Day). Aiur - the third planet from the sun, Aleun (eng. Aleun) - the fourth planet from the sun. Two more planets are unknown.

Ayur

View of the planet Aiur in the game StarCraft II: WoL. Observation from high orbit

Ayur(in other translations Aiur or Ayur, (English) Aiur) (Aer or Air)) is the home planet of the Protoss, covered with jungle. This world was characterized by stormy weather and rough seas. Of the fauna of the planet, only Benglaas are known - animals similar to panthers.

Physical data:

• Satellites: 1 - Saalok (white, medium size, more than 3500 km in diameter). Protoss tribe Shelak) calls Saalok - “White Circle of Night” (eng. White Circle of Night)
• Diameter: 13,273 km
• Axis tilt: 18.5 degrees
• Climate: −30…+30 °C, high humidity
• Geography: 5 major continents, 4 oceans, 2000 lakes, 12 mountain ranges (5 of them volcanic)
• Predominant terrain: jungle, wasteland
• Fauna: Native Lifeforms: (unknown how many survived the Zerg invasion): Bengalaas, Kel-Taar, Kwa-Kai, Lombad, May-Lur, Omara, Protoss

• Major population centers: approximately 38 Protoss temples (destroyed), 5 major cities (destroyed), 2,000 minor settlements (destroyed), approximately 65 primary zerg hive clusters, approximately 289 secondary zerg hive clusters, over 600 tertiary zerg hive clusters
• Dominant Life Form: Zerg
• Affiliation: Zerg Swarm
• Population: over 5 billion zerg, unknown number of protoss survivors
• Import: none
• Export: none

Antiga system

The Antiga star system has two planets: Antiga Prime and an unnamed gas giant. The outer planets of the system are icy.

Antiga Prime

Secret headquarters of the Sons of Korhal on the second moon of the planet Antiga Prime

Star of Zlata Frankovskaya Antiga Prime(English) Antiga Prime) is a planet that formerly belonged to the Confederacy. This world was covered in wastelands and had at least two moons. It also had large reserves of resources - minerals and vespene gas, which made it very valuable.

The planet was originally inhabited by Confederate colonists. Gradually, the population's dissatisfaction with the corrupt central government grew, and when the Sons of Korhal arrived on the planet, the Antigans were ready to revolt. To prevent it, the Confederation sent Alpha Squadron to the planet under the command of General Edmund Duke. The local militia base was subordinate to a Confederate officer, and an Alpha base was stationed nearby to control the Antigans. From a secret base on the second moon of the planet, the Sons of Korhal sent Sarah Kerrigan to reconnoiter the situation, and Jim Raynor with a detachment of soldiers as support. Sarah Kerrigan killed a Confederate officer, after which the Antigans carried out a successful attack on Alpha's base. At the same time, the rebellious capital of the planet (eng. Andasa City) was completely destroyed by a detachment of Confederates under the command of Lieutenant (eng. Cliff Nadaner). General Duke was aware of what was happening, but could not do anything because his flagship cruiser Norad 2. Norad 2) was attacked by the zerg and fell to the surface of the planet. Alpha Squadron was unable to push back the zerg who had landed on the planet. Seeing an opportunity to gain a powerful ally, the leader of the Sons of Korhal ordered Jim Raynor and Sarah Kerrigan to rescue Duke. Alpha soldiers fought alongside the rebels to save their commander. When Norad 2 was found, Mengsk gave Duke an ultimatum - either he goes over to the side of the Sons of Korhal, or he dies. Duke went over to Mengsk's side. This was one of the biggest victories of the rebels - an entire elite squadron led by a general went over to their side. In panic, the Confederacy sent Delta Squadron to defeat the Sons of Korhal and quell the rebellion, despite the presence of the zerg. However, Mengsk was able to decrypt the disks received on Mar Sara from the Jacobs base, and received blueprints for the psi emitter. Delta Squadron blocked the Sons of Korhal. Mengsk ordered Kerrigan to install a psi emitter at Delta's base and activate it. The plan was a success, and hordes of zerg destroyed Delta. The rebels managed to leave the planet, after which a Protoss expeditionary fleet flew to the planet and destroyed all life with strikes from orbit. Currently, Antiga Prime is a lifeless, scorched desert.

StarCraft.

Braxis

View of Braxis from high orbit

View of the planet Braxis in the game StarCraft II: WoL. Observation from high orbit.

Physical data:

• Satellites: Edis (dark gray, medium size, more than 2000 km in diameter)
• Diameter: 9480 km
• Gravity: 0.82 from standard
• Axle Tilt: 24.3 degrees
• Climate: from −60°С to +60°С, very low humidity
• Geography: 3 continental glaciers, 43 mountain ranges (4 of them volcanic), 4 oceans (3 of them frozen)
• Predominant terrain: glaciers
• Fauna: ursadont (newly introduced)

• Main settlements: 1 large Terran settlement, 3 small Terran settlements, 10 small Protoss settlements (destroyed), 2 ancient Protoss temples (destroyed)
• Population: more than 24 thousand Terrans
• Imports: food, weapons, labor
• Export: refined minerals, vespene

Braxis Alpha

View of the planet Braxis Alpha in the game StarCraft II: WoL. Observation from high orbit

solar system

Earth

Physical data:

• Companions: 2 - Ursa (eng. Ursa) (brown, small in size, more than 1100 km in diameter) and Kanis (eng. Canis) (also brown, small in size, more than 1100 km in diameter); located in a narrow asteroid ring
• Diameter: 12248 km
• Gravity: 0.98 from standard
• Axis tilt: 6.2 degrees
• Climate: from −25°С to +25°С, low humidity
• Geography: 6 continents, 2 large oceans, 72 radiation-contaminated areas
• Predominant nature of the terrain: megacities on terraformed lands, radioactive deserts, wastelands
• Fauna: scantid, dive hawk (introduced), bengalaas (introduced), rhinadon (introduced), hedgehog lizard (introduced), milot (introduced), clay dog ​​(introduced)

Status at the start of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

• Main settlements: 8 large urban agglomerations, 5592 residential areas, 1012 industrial zones
• Dominant Life Form: Terrans - Terran Dominion
• Affiliation: Terran Dominion
• Population: over 6.3 billion Terrans
• Imports: minerals, vespene, food, live animals, luxury goods
• Export: high-tech goods, military equipment, machinery, media, entertainment

Moria

Moria. View from orbit

View of the planet Moria in the game StarCraft II: WoL. Observation from high orbit

Moria- a very mineral-rich planet covered in wasteland. The name of the planet is most likely taken from Tolkien's book The Fellowship of the Ring, where Moria was the name of the mountains in which the huge Dwarven mines were located.

Moria was one of the first three planets inhabited by Terrans. The Argo ship landed on Moria. When landing, the ship's main computer blocked all information, and therefore, despite its enormous resources, technologically Moria lagged behind Tarsonis, whose colonists had access to the ATLAS supercomputer (abbr. from English. Artificial Tele-empathic Logistics Analysis System ). This allowed Tarsonis to develop faster and populate surrounding planets, founding the Terran Confederacy. The military power of Tarsonis grew, and the Morian colony, which had prospered thanks to major mineral developments, began to fear that the Confederacy would try to take over the planet. The Kel-Morian Syndicate was founded to protect the colony's cartels from Confederate encroachment. This led to complications with Tarsonis and ended in the Guild War. Guild Wars). The war lasted four years. The Confederation was victorious and imposed a humiliating peace on Moria, under which all mineral developments were transferred to Tarsonis, although the syndicate formally retained autonomy. After the creation of the Terran Dominion, Moria became part of it. Following the defeat of the Dominion, the Syndicate was forced to make a deal with the UED to avoid hostilities. A garrison of the Directorate remained on the planet. Following this, the zerg of Kerrigan's Brood, led by the protoss dragoon Phoenix, invaded Moria in order to accumulate enough minerals to attack Korhal. Along the way, the zerg infected many people. After the Brood War, Moria again became part of the Dominion, although retaining significant autonomy.

The planet was first introduced in the StarCraft user manual.

Physical data:

• Satellites: 2 - Vito (green, small in size, more than 1000 km in diameter), Brutus (gray, small in size, more than 1000 km in diameter)
• Diameter: 13528 km
• Gravity: 1.16 from standard
• Axis tilt: 2.4 degrees
• Climate: from −32°С to +32°С, very low humidity
• Geography: 5 large continents, 6 large seas, 14 highlands (5 of them volcanic)
• Predominant terrain: desert
• Fauna: rhinadon, scalet (introduced), mine weevil, stoneweed

Status at the start of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

• Main settlements: 16 large settlements, 86 small settlements, 751 mines, 802 processing plants, 323 factories
• Dominant Life Form: Terrans - Kelmorian Syndicate
• Affiliation: Kelmorian Syndicate
• Population: over 4.1 billion Terrans
• Imports: unrefined minerals, food, water, luxury goods, medicines, labor
• Export: refined minerals, vespene, precious metals, industrial products

Char

View of Char from high orbit

View of the planet Char in the game StarCraft II: WoL. Observation from high orbit

View of the Char Aleph platform against the backdrop of the planet Char in the game StarCraft: Brood War. Observation from low orbit

Status at the start of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

• Affiliation: Protoss
• Population: 4.6 billion Dark Templars and 6.5 billion Protoss of Aiur

Telesailor

Capital of the Dark Templars Telematros

The capital of the dark templars on the planet Shakuras is Telematros(English) Talematros). The city is located citadel- a place where a special Council headed by the Matriarch gathers. The telesailor is located on a huge hill surrounded by five fortified posts. In addition, the city is protected by pylons based on Khaidarin crystals, which generate a powerful electromagnetic field that prevents flying zerg from navigating in space. After the protoss from Aiur arrived on Shakuras, they sent several representatives to the city and improved its defensive systems. During the Brood War, the infected Sarah Kerrigan travels to Shakuras to kidnap the matriarch Raszagal. To do this, she needed to penetrate the city, but a field of pylons impeded the operation. Her servant Samir Duran went to five special energy clusters outside the fortification and reconfigured them so that they exploded along with all of Telesatros's pylons.

It is unknown whether the city was subsequently rebuilt.

Shiloh

View of the planet Shiloh in the game StarCraft II: WoL. Observation from high orbit

Physical data:

• Satellites: 1 - Bivouac (green, small in size, more than 873 km in diameter)
• Diameter: 10694 km
• Gravity: 0.98 from standard
• Axis tilt: 5.8 degrees
• Climate: from −27°С to +27°С, low humidity
• Geography: 3 major continents, 3 oceans, 4 inland seas/large lakes
• Predominant terrain: plain/savannah/tundra
• Fauna: curved toad, nerrat

Status at the start of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

• Main settlements: 6 large settlements, 18 small settlements
• Dominant Life Form: Terrans - Terran Dominion
• Affiliation: Terran Dominion
• Population: 255 million Terrans
• Import: metals, electronics, agricultural machinery
• Export: grain, agricultural products

New Folsom

View of the planet New Folsom in the game StarCraft II: WoL. Observation from high orbit

Physical data:

• Satellites: 1 - Sue (blue, small, 792 km in diameter)
• Diameter: 6391 km
• Gravity: 1.3 from standard
• Axis tilt: 3.7 degrees
• Climate: on average from −51°С to +51°С (peak temperature exceeds +800°С), very low humidity
• Geography: 4 continents (variable number), 97 volcanic calderas, 9 mountain ranges (all volcanic), 53 lava lakes, 3 lava seas (variable number)
• Predominant terrain: volcanic
• Fauna: none

Status at the start of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

• Main settlements: none
• Dominant Life Form: Terrans - Terran Dominion
• Affiliation: Terran Dominion
• Population: 3,500 Terrans
• Import: food, water, ammunition, medicine, spare parts for prison module
• Export: unrefined minerals, minerals

It is one of the most dangerous planets in the sector.

System Sarah

The Sara star system has two planets: Mar Sara and Chau Sara, which orbit a yellow star, and there is also an asteroid ring in the system. Colonization of the system began in 2480, just before the Guild War.

Mar Sara

View of the planet Mar Sara before it was burned by the Protoss in the game StarCraft II: WoL. Observation from high orbit

Mar Sarah. View from orbit

View of the planet Mar Sara in the game StarCraft II: WoL. Observation from high orbit

Mar Sara- a wasteland-covered terran planet.

Initially inhabited by the Confederacy, the planet served as a mining site for various metals and minerals. Shortly after the Protoss attacked the planet of the same Chau Sara system, Mar Sara was infected with zerg, which spread across the planet, killing colonists and Confederate soldiers. Marshal Raynor's attempts to organize a defense ended in his imprisonment because the zerg attack was caused by an experiment by Confederate scientists using psi emitters. The extremist organization "Sons of Korhal" organized the evacuation of the surviving population after Confederate troops abandoned the planet to its fate, and then freed Raynor. Just before the evacuation, rebels attacked the Jacobs complex and stole disks with encrypted data. The spread of the zerg ceased with the arrival of a Protoss expeditionary fleet under the command of Executor Tassadar, who sterilized the planet with orbital strikes (this was part of the Conclave's campaign to combat the zerg). Despite a direct order to destroy all life on the surface of planets infected with zerg, he gave the Terrans time to evacuate. For violating the order, Tassadar was demoted and replaced by another Executor. Years later, Mar Sara, burned to the ground, became part of the Terran Dominion. A factory was built on the planet for the production of terrazine - a gas that turned ghosts into spectra - killing machines that unquestioningly obeyed any orders.

The planet first appeared in the game StarCraft.

Physical data:

• Satellites: 2 - Pyramus and Thisbe (gray, medium size: more than 2000 km in diameter)
• Diameter: 9265 km
• Gravity: 1.09 from standard
• Axis tilt: 13.5 degrees
• Climate: average temperature about 34°C, low humidity
• Geography: 18 small dust seas, 28 hills (17 of them of volcanic origin)
• Predominant terrain: heathland, mountains, deserts
• Fauna: none (slightly zerg infested)

Status at the start of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

• Main settlements: 12 large settlements (destroyed), 86 mines, 12 processing plants
• Dominant Life Form: Terrans (Kelmorian Syndicate, Terran Dominion)
• Affiliation: Terran Dominion
• Population: Over 80,000 Terrans, unknown number of Zerg
• Imports: mining equipment, labor, food, water
• Export: processed minerals, unprocessed ore, vespene and terrazine gases, scrap metal

Chau Sarah

View of Chau Sara from high orbit

Chau Sarah(English) Chau Sara) is a Terran colony rich in minerals and metals. The surface of the planet is covered with wastelands. Its population was 400,000 people, and its capital was the city of Los Andares. Los Andares).

Colonized by the Confederacy, Chau Sara became the base of operations for Alpha Squadron. At the beginning of the war with the zerg, the squadron was given the task of defeating the extremist group “Sons of Korhal”, which had established its base on the planet. During the mission, Alpha Squad encountered unknown alien organisms that attacked the base. The attack was repulsed, and the Cerberus squadron came to the aid of Alpha. Together the two units destroyed all the terrorists. The Sons of Korhal did not appear on Chau Sara again. Magistrate Collins reported that one of the most secure places on the planet - the Flannum scientific complex - was captured by alien organisms. Alpha and Cerberus squadrons cleared the way to the complex. Two special forces flamethrowers from Cerberus were sent to the complex and rescued the scientists and surviving guards. A little later, the city of Los Andares was attacked by aliens. General Edmund Duke personally took part in the defense of the city, fighting in his tank. The attack was repulsed; Collins proposed setting up a tough defense, but the Cerberus commander, who had special powers, ordered Alpha Squadron to attack the zerg (and that was exactly what they were) and took control of the colony. The Zerg were defeated on November 12, 2499. The population and troops were evacuated to the nearest colony planet Mar Sara. In December of the same year, a Protoss expeditionary fleet under the command of Tassadar arrived in orbit around Chau Sara. All life on the planet was destroyed by impacts from orbit.

What happened on Chau Sara is revealed in the StarCraft demo and the StarCraft: Revelations comic.

Tirador system

The Tirador star system has two co-orbital planets - Tirador VIII and Tirador IX, and is also the birthplace of the alcoholic drink. Tyrador Mindbender) and wild beast (eng. Tyrador blood-shrike). Located several days' journey from Korhal IV.

Status at the start of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

Affiliation: Terran Dominion

Tirador VIII

View of planet Tirador VIII against the background of planet Tirador IX in the game StarCraft II: WoL. Observation from high orbit.

Tirador VIII(English) Tyrador VIII) - the smaller planet of the two planets of the Tirador System, has ten continents. The capital of the planet is a city. Gramercy City), from where Valerian Mengsk watched his father's inauguration as Emperor of the Dominion.

Tirador IX

Tirador IX(English) Tyrador IX) is the homeland of Matt Horner, one of the original 13 worlds of the Confederacy. Has the cities of New Canaan New Canaan) and Elsekaro (eng. Elsecaro), is a popular tourist resort.

KL-2

KL-2- dead planet. Formed a ring of asteroids after it exploded.

Agria

View of the planet Agria in the game StarCraft II: WoL. Observation from high orbit

Agria(English) Agria) was founded by Dr. Bernard Hanson, known for his achievements in the field of terraforming. Until recently, the colony was one of the largest agricultural centers and nature reserves of the Dominion. After the death of Bernard Hanson, his daughter Ariel became the head of the colony, but soon the zerg attacked the planet, and the colonists, resorting to the help of Raynor's Raiders, had to evacuate to Meinhoff. It is possible that Agria is currently infested with zerg.

Redstone III

View of the planet Redstone III in the game StarCraft II: WoL. Observation from high orbit

Redstone Mineral Resources Redstone III) became the main cause of the conflict between various mining guilds, which eventually escalated into a full-scale war.

Meinhoff

View of the planet Meinhoff in the game StarCraft II: WoL. Observation from high orbit

Known for its rich mineral reserves, the planet Meinhoff Meinhoff) was under the control of the Kelmori Syndicate for many years. Lately, however, it has become a refuge for refugees from worlds under attack by the zerg. Has the city of Yorgenton.

When the zerg attacked the planet Agria, the colonists began to evacuate (with the help of Raynor's Raiders) to Meinhoff. However, soon, for unknown reasons, an unknown epidemic broke out on the planet. Even buildings were susceptible to contamination. James Raynor realized with horror that the colonists had become infected with the zerg evolution virus, which spreads so quickly in the body that it cannot be cured. Raynor had to destroy a huge number of infected colonists to stop the epidemic, and at the same time several zerg infesters, which, as it turned out, were the cause of the huge epidemic.

Realizing that they were now in danger, the colonists began to look for a new planet to colonize. Soon, this planet became Harbor, located on the border of the Protoss sector.

Bel-Shir

View of the planet Bel-Shir in the game StarCraft II: WoL. Observation from high orbit

Bel-Shir was once a place where the Protoss Templars found peace and solitude. Since then, many ancient sanctuaries and destroyed temple gardens have remained on the planet. It also contains Terrazin gas, necessary to transform ghosts into phantoms, which the Protoss call the "breath of life", considering the gas a gift from the Xel'naga. In order to train phantoms, you need a lot of Terrazine. Therefore, their leader, Gabriel Tosh, pushed James Raynor to steal the gas, citing that “if you know the buyers, this gas can be sold for a fortune.” Raynor and his Raiders began invading the altars containing Terrazin and stealing it, although the Protoss attempted to seal the altars to prevent Raynor and his Raiders from reaching the gas. Having collected enough Terrazine, Raynor's Raiders began to hastily leave the planet, ignoring the threats of the Taldarim Executor Nyon.

First, the Earth was displaced from the center of the universe, proving that it revolves around the Sun, and not vice versa. Then it turned out that the Solar System itself is just a formation on the periphery of its galaxy.

Now the uniqueness of the Earth as such is called into question. More recently, a number of scientists believed that perhaps our planet is an exceptional case and the conditions that arose here and were suitable for the origin of life are not repeated anywhere else.

However, American space researchers believe that life is possible on almost all of them.

Such conclusions of experts are contained in material published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.

This work was based on an analysis of the results of the activities of the Kepler space telescope.

The Kepler telescope was named after the German scientist Johannes Kepler, the discoverer of the laws of motion of the planets in the solar system. Launched in 2009, the apparatus was entrusted with the mission of searching for so-called exoplanets, that is, planets orbiting not around the Sun, but around other stars. Moreover, the Kepler mission included the task of detecting exoplanets with parameters similar to the Earth.

Hunting for exoplanets

The first exoplanets were discovered at the turn of the 1980-1990s. The search for such objects is extremely difficult due to their extreme distance from the Earth, small size and dimness - after all, the planets themselves do not shine, but only reflect the light of the star.

The Kepler telescope discovered exoplanets using the so-called “transit method,” that is, by measuring fluctuations in the brightness of stars as a planet passes across its disk.

Kepler, which operated in orbit for four years, during this time discovered over 3,500 planets on which life could theoretically exist. There are 647 of them similar in size and mass to the Earth, and about 104 of them are located at such a distance from the star that makes the possibility of the existence of water realistic.

Failures were discovered in Kepler's operation in mid-2012, and in the late spring of 2013 it finally failed. Currently, engineers are working on plans for a possible modification of Kepler, but when they will be implemented and whether they will be implemented at all remains unknown.

However, the data that Kepler collected during its operation will be analyzed for several more years.

Was Giordano Bruno right?

Based on the data already studied, American scientists have come to the conclusion that there are a huge number of planets in the Universe that are suitable for the origin of life and are similar to Earth.

Based on known information, astronomers estimate that Earth-like planets exist in 22 percent of all stars. That is, every fifth star can rotate its own “Earth”.

In the Milky Way galaxy alone, there are possibly 8.8 billion planets similar to Earth in size, mass and surface temperature. This means that some forms of life may be found on them.

As for the Universe as a whole, as the famous cat Matroskin used to say, “we have heaps of this shoe polish” - we are talking about tens and hundreds of billions of “copies” of the Earth.

Of course, under these conditions, the likelihood of earthlings having brothers in mind is extremely high.

By the way, American astronomers, with their conclusions, actually confirm the idea of ​​“multiple worlds,” for which Giordano Bruno went to the stake four hundred years ago. By the way, in the year of the 400th anniversary of Bruno’s execution, the Catholic Church refused to consider the issue of rehabilitating the scientist.

Reach out to neighbors

The closest “copy” of the Earth from the “original” Earth is located relatively close - about 15 light years. True, with the current level of technology, it will take earthlings millions of years to reach their neighbors.

However, supporters of the uniqueness of the Earth revolving around the Sun are not giving up - now they rely on the original geometry of our system, where the planets have almost regular circular orbits. They also point to the influence exerted on the development of the Earth by the Moon, without which “everything could have been different.”

The theoretical calculations of American astronomers, of course, look more significant. It is quite possible that among the billions of “copies” of the Earth, there are many who also have their own “copies” of the Moons.

But for now it’s almost impossible to verify this - for this you need something stronger than the Kepler telescope. Perhaps such technology will appear in the not too distant future, because human curiosity is the great engine of progress.

For thousands of years, astronomers could only explore the planets of our solar system. The first planets were discovered due to a strange movement in the night sky, different from other stars. The Greeks first called these "irregular stars" wanderers, using the old Greek word "planan." The incredibly complex nature of planetary systems was first pointed out by Galileo, who examined Jupiter through a telescope and noticed how celestial bodies orbited the gas giant. In 1994, the first planet outside our solar system was discovered. Dr. Alexander Wolschan observed unusual changes in the signal from the pulsar Beta Pictoris, proving the existence of several planets in orbit. Since then, at least 1,888 more exoplanets have been discovered, revolutionizing scientists' understanding of the cosmos, the way planets formed, and even the evolution of the universe over 13 billion years. The most unusual planets in the universe sometimes look more like science fiction than actual celestial bodies.

Gliese 581 c

HD 106906 b - The Loneliest Planet

TrES-2b: black hole planet

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Incredible facts

Have you ever wondered how big the Universe is?

8. However, this is nothing compared to the Sun.

Photo of the Earth from space

9. And this view of our planet from the moon.

10. This is us from the surface of Mars.

11. And this view of the Earth behind the rings of Saturn.

12. And this is the famous photograph" Pale blue dot", where the Earth is photographed from Neptune, from a distance of almost 6 billion kilometers.

13. Here is the size Earth compared to the Sun, which doesn’t even fit completely into the photo.

Biggest star

14. And this Sun from the surface of Mars.

15. As the famous astronomer Carl Sagan once said, in space more stars than grains of sand on all the beaches of the Earth.

16. There are many stars that are much larger than our Sun. Just look how tiny the Sun is.

Photo of the Milky Way galaxy

18. But nothing can compare to the size of the galaxy. If you reduce The sun to the size of a leukocyte(white blood cell), and shrink the Milky Way Galaxy using the same scale, the Milky Way would be the size of the United States.

19. This is because the Milky Way is simply huge. That's where the solar system is inside it.

20. But we see only very much a small part of our galaxy.

21. But even our galaxy is tiny compared to others. Here Milky Way compared to galaxy IC 1011, which is located 350 million light years from Earth.

22. Think about it, in this photograph taken by the Hubble telescope, thousands of galaxies, each containing millions of stars, each with their own planets.

23. Here is one of galaxy UDF 423, located 10 billion light years away. When you look at this photograph, you are looking billions of years into the past. Some of these galaxies formed several hundred million years after the Big Bang.

24. But remember that this photo is very, a very small part of the universe. It's just an insignificant part of the night sky.

25. We can quite confidently assume that somewhere there is black holes. Here's the size of the black hole compared to Earth's orbit.