How many earth-like planets are thought to exist in the universe?
1 Answer
Extrapolation from current estimates suggests upwards of
Explanation:
Current estimates based on data from the Kepler mission suggest that there are somewhere between 1 and 50 billion "Earth-like" planets in the Milky way alone, depending on how one defines "Earth-like".
Let's take the low end of that estimate (
If there are more than 100 billion (
The total number then is
or
That's probably more than the number of grains of sand on every beach on Earth. In other words, a LOT .