Planets like earth

Currently, our earth is running out of time. The sun is a ticking time bomb, and it will explode in about 5 billion years. And way before that occurs there will be many other threats along the way. Black holes, fast spreading deadly diseases, a nuclear war, overpopulation, global warming, and asteroids are all among these threats. There are thousands of threats that could happen at any moment, so we need to be prepared to ensure the survival of the human race. One way out of our deadly fate is by moving to another location. In fact, there are planets out there similar to earth that we could inhabit to survive. If we could travel to one of the planets and inhabit it, we would have a better chance of escaping extinction. One of the main problems is finding a planet that perfectly fits our needs so that we can survive there.

Criteria of an earth like planet

Nasa’s Kepler spacecraft was launched and its mission was to locate earth like planets. It discovered 4,700 objects but only 1,030 are confirmed planets. But, these planets need to fit within the “earth like” criteria to be considered a planet that could be useful to us. There are three main pieces of criteria that qualifies it to be similar to earth. First, the planet must be a similar size to earth. If a planet is too small it will spin too quickly. If a planet is too big, there are violent destructive storms, and many large planets are dominated by poisonous gasses. A planet the size of earth is more desirable because planets that size tend to be rocky, which is needed to be a qualified planet. It also needs to rotate around a star (aka have a sun). The planet also needs to rotate around the sun in a habitable zone. By being in a habitable zone, that means it can’t be too close to its sun and it cant be too far away. If the planet is too far away, the temperatures will be too cold for us to survive, and the water would be frozen. Having liquid water is another important qualification for an earth like planet. If a planet is to close to its sun, the planet will be too excruciatingly hot to be survivable by humans. If a planet is at the right distance for water, has a rocky base, and temperatures that can sustain life, it is a valued candidate for an earth like planet.

Kepler-452 B

One of the planets that was discovered by Nasa is Kepler— 452 b. Our sun goes by the name of 452 while this new planets sun goes by the name of 452-B. It closely fits to almost all of the criteria of a valid planet. This planet has a similar length of days in its year. Its sun is 10 percent bigger than our own sun but it evens out with this planet being 5 percent farther from its sun than our own. Kepler 452 b’s temperature is very similar to earth. It is sixty percent larger than our own planet which leads to a slower rotation. This planet is the closest to identical it gets, but it is 1400 light years away which makes it impossible for us to reach, at least for now.

Kepler-22 B

This planet has a radius 2.4 times bigger than earth. It also has the highest chance of having water in all of the habitable zone planets. It could have temperatures of negative eleven degrees celsius, but that is the worst case scenario. Best case scenario, this planet has temperatures of 22 degrees celsius. This planet could be an ocean planet, a planet completely covered by water. If that is true, there is a good chance that there is life there already, and who knows what could be living there.

Gliese-581 C

Gliese-581 C could be thought of as a planet with a higher chance of us actually inhabiting it. It seems like the possibility of traveling there would be much more likely because it is only 21.3 light years away from us, which in comparison to the other planets, it is a much more likely choice. Yet taking the fastest man made aircraft to get there would still take 90,000 years. This planet is especially famous because it is one of the first to be considered habitable, and discovered to have water. Although, this planet will never be a valid planet for us because it is not in the habitable zone. It is too close to its sun which makes it impossible for humans to live there. Although, this planet has a lesser known younger brother, Gliese-581 G. This planet could possibly be in the habitable zone, but on the colder side. This bitter planets temperature ranges from negative 37 degrees celsius to negative twelve degrees celsius. It has a rocky base which is a good quality of an earth like planet. It has an atmosphere which makes it likely that it supports water. There is also a very high probability that it already has life existing there.

Kepler 62 E

Kepler 62 E is a super-earth exoplanet. Its diameter is 60 percent larger than earths. It was discovered in the habitable zone along with some other earth similar planets, such as Kepler 62. This planet was the second planet of five to be discovered by Nasa’s Kepler spacecraft. This planet was discovered by the transit method, which is when a planet passes in front of its star causes a space of dimness which was measured by Nasa. This planet makes a full rotation around its star every 122 days which makes its year length period similar to our own. This planet also has a rocky surface and has a high probability of hosting water. It is also almost 100 percent covered by water. This planet has a cloudy sky and is probably very humid almost everywhere on its planet.