Jaymie Matthews
Jaymie Matthews
believed earth might planets rule theorists
We were able to rule out Earth-sized planets in some of the orbits where theorists believed they might be found.
best earth expected explain influence mass might planets theories
We expected that there might be Earth-mass planets here because the planet we know about is weird. It's too big for its mass and one of the best theories to explain that was that it was being puffed out by the tidal influence of a Earth-mass planet in a nearby orbit. Unfortunately that does not work.
behind blocks corner detect eclipse equivalent few imagine mosquito next street trying
Imagine trying to see a mosquito disappearing behind a 400-Watt streetlamp, not at the next street corner or a few blocks away, but 1,000 kilometers away. That's equivalent to what we're trying to do to detect the planet's eclipse in the HD 209458 system.
believe best conditions life majority planet
I would say the majority of astronomers believe there is life elsewhere, and the best place to find it would be on a planet that has conditions like the Earth.