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Matteo Cantiello edited Ne.tex
about 10 years ago
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$n_e$ Is the fraction of Earth-like planets.
A measure of how common are planets that can likely support biological life as we know it.
The definition is a little lose, but the idea is having a rocky planet in the so called Goldilocks or habitable zone, a range of distances from the host star where temperature at the surface is just about right for liquid water to be present. This might well be a restrictive definition of habitability, as life forms might thrive in very different environments from what we are used to. But one has to start somewhere, and liquid water seems to have played a decisive role as a catalyst for biological life on Earth.
The news came up just in
the last few months. Earth-like planets are very common. Statistically speaking 1 in 5 planets could potentially support
life. life \cite{Petigura_Howard_Marcy_2013}. BAM! So $n_e \approx$ 0.2