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+ - Could there be solar systems more habitable than ours? Researchers say yes->

Submitted by SternisheFan
SternisheFan (2529412) writes "Astronomers at Ohio State University have concluded that there could be solar systems more habitable than ours. OSU reports that planets orbiting stars that resemble our own sun may be hotter and more dynamic than Earth. In fact, the interiors of any terrestrial planets in these systems could be 25 percent warmer than Earth. If this is true, these planets would be more geologically active and more likely to hold enough liquid water to support life (at least in its microbial

Researchers examined eight “solar twins” of our sun (stars that resemble the sun in size, age and overall composition) in order to determine the amounts of radioactive elements they contain. The solar twins came from a dataset obtained by the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher spectrometer at the European Southern Observatory in Chile.

Researchers were looking for elements such as thorium and uranium, which are key to Earth’s plate tectonics because they are key ingredients in the warming of our planet’s interior. Since plate tectonics contribute to the existence of water on the surface of the Earth, the existence of plate tectonics often indicates whether or not a planet could be hospitable to some form of life."

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