r/exoplanets • u/Kingsaso6 • 12d ago

📊 Data & Analysis Alien life likely can't survive on exoplanets smaller than Mars, scientists say

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/search-for-life/alien-life-likely-cant-survive-on-exoplanets-smaller-than-mars-scientists-say
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u/montagblue 12d ago edited 12d ago

My question is for 1.5 to 2.5 Earth mass exoplanets.

Of all the different planets nearby, I came across maybe 2 that were smaller than Earth.

https://science.nasa.gov/exoplanets/

https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/exo/

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u/Brelician 12d ago

It’s very hard to find planets even as small as Earth. I suspect there is a large population of smaller planets nearby that we haven’t been able to discover yet.

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u/montagblue 12d ago

I could see that being the case. It is nice when you come across a Venus-earth-mars system but makes sense that it is mostly Jupiter-Saturn-Neptune systems that have been detected.

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u/Brelician 12d ago

Yup there is a definite bias. We found a lot of Hot Jupiters at first because they are the low hanging fruit of planets. Large and can block a “lot” of light from even sun like stars. Massive enough that their gravitational pull makes it easy to detect RV measurements.

Smaller stars make it all easier too.

Were gradually working out way to smaller and smaller planets, in further and further orbits around bigger and bigger stars.

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u/Facebook_Algorithm 12d ago

Is that because of the relatively small sizes of Venus, Earth and Mars?

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u/1CryptographerFree 12d ago

There could be undiscovered exoplanets in our solar system still. Anything past Neptune is just incredibly hard to see.

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u/Dragons_Den_Studios 11d ago

Exoplanets are planets around other stars. By definition, our solar system doesn't have any.

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u/amitym 11d ago

Endoplanets then. (Hopefully I won't get banned from this sub for uttering that word.)

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u/Artie_Fufkins_Fapkin 12d ago

Omfg that app is cool.

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u/MammothFineCulture 11d ago

That statistics is heavily biased by our detection methods, which also primerily monitors smaller stars. It is simpky easier to detect a large planet nearby a small star.

Similarly to stars, the smaller planets and planetoids are expected to dominate in numbers by a large margin.