The most common type of star in the Milky Way is called a red dwarf–these are smaller, cooler, and longer-lived than our sun. There are 160 BILLION of them in our galaxy and 40% of them have Earth-like planets orbiting them at the right distance for liquid water to exist on their surfaces, a condition that is necessary for life.
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Will 2012 be the year we discover another planet that has intelligent life on it? Researchers have detected two planets of sizes comparable to Earth orbiting a star similar to our own Sun. This means there could be life on either one–or both–of them. Astronomers don’t expect to find ETs there, but they do hope to eventually spot something that could eventually evolve into creatures like us.
The discovery is the first confirmation that planets the size of Earth and smaller exist outside our Solar System, and that we can find them with Kepler Space Telescope, which so far has spotted more than 2,300 planets that could contain life.
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In a continuing search for other planets that may harbor life, re-analysis of Hubble Space Telescope images from 1998, astronomers have found evidence for two extrasolar planets that went undetected back then. Four giant planets are known to orbit the young, massive star HR 8799, which is 130 light-years away. The first three were discovered In 2007 and 2008. The fourth was spotted in 2010.
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Even though a dwarf galaxy clear across the Milky Way looks to be a mouse, it may have once been a bear that slashed through the Milky Way and created the galaxy’s spiral arms. What does all this mean?
Astronomer Curtis Struck thinks the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy collided with the Milky Way, creating the galaxy’s spiral arms, its central bar structure and the flaring at its outer disk. Along the way, the dwarf galaxy’s stars were scattered and the galaxy shrunk to an object that’s so small and unimpressive it’s hard to see. Maybe the evolution of our Milky Way galaxy did include collisions and wasn’t as peaceful as astronomers had thought.
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