There are 50 billion planets in the Milky Way galaxy

February 21, 2011 By Jeffrey Van Camp

Thanks to the Kepler telescope, scientists now estimate that there are 50 billion planets and 500 million life-capable planets in the Milky Way galaxy.

Scientists now estimate that there are as many as 50 billion planets in our own Milky Way galaxy, reports the AP. More interesting, 500 million of them may be in zones where life could exist. These numbers come, of course, from NASA’s Kepler telescope, which was launched specifically for scientists to search for other planets. Thanks to the mission’s success, NASA has been feeding us interesting information for weeks now.

The estimates come from counting how many planets have passed through Kepler’s view so far and extrapolating that number to the full size of the galaxy. So far, Kepler has found 1,235 objects that appear to be planets with 54 of those in a region they’re calling the “Goldilocks zone,” or in a close enough orbit to a star to be perfect for sustaining life–a region that is neither too hot nor too cold.

Breaking those numbers down, in our galaxy half of all stars have planets and 1 in 200 stars have planets in the Goldilocks zone. Scientists figure there are around 300 billion stars in our own galaxy, which may be one of only 100 billion galaxies.

Recently, NASA also got its first full 360 degree view of our own sun. To learn more about the Kepler mission, head to NASA’s Website.

Showing 4 comments

Tim at 12:27pm 21st February 2011 So with there being 500 million planets (in or one galaxy that are suitable to have life) times 100 billion. That would be 5 trillion planets that could haber life as we know it. Can we day that there is no other life in the universe?
1. Carl Loeber at 1:14pm 21st February 2011 and then you figure that at 4.5 billion years there are trillions who have a billion or so years on us .. can you say "Heavenly Father" ? As Abraham is quoted .. "he confessed he was a stranger and alien upon the earth .. " Consider that only 63 years after two bicycle makers learned to fly .. there were men standing on the moon .. think they could get somewhere else in a thousand years .. ? where in a million years ?
  1. Jed Hunsaker at 2:47pm 17th June 2011 So it's settled then. Our first order of business in introducing ourselves to these planets is to tell them that we created them and that we are their gods. If our god truly exists, of course he/she's an alien! Anyone who doesn't live here is an alien. Doesn't mean he/she looks any different though.
2. Garry1977 at 5:51pm 28th March 2011 And that's only the life 'as we know it'. What about the possible life that could be on non inhabitable (as far as we know) planets.