[JRandomFreeper]

So far, our only good reference for recognizing an Earth-like planet is... Earth.

A data set of one.

Hard to draw any conclusions from that.

Given how fast we are finding new planets and improvements at finding out details about them remotely... we may soon have more data to work with.

This is an amazing time to be alive. When my oldest grandson was born, there were NO confirmed extra-solar planets. I can't keep up with the number they are finding these days.

/johnny

[cripplecreek]

We're also finding planets where we theorized that they couldn't be. The very first was found orbiting a pulsar and now we're finding them in star clusters.

[SunkenCiv]

No doubt about it. :’) The rate is large, and growing larger. This will go on for a while. Then the next-gen of orbital observatories will start kicking in more and more data.