Earth isn't too close to the sun, like that boiling hellhole called Venus, or too far away, like chilly Pluto. Our world is just right.
Astronomers call its sweet spot in the solar system the "Goldilocks Zone." It describes the range of distance a planet has to be from its sun to be considered potentially habitable.
And as it turns out, there are tons of other planets outside the solar system that sit in the Goldilocks Zone around their own stars.
Astronomers took data from the Planetary Habitability Laboratory to create a mesmerizing visualization of just how many potentially habitable worlds are out there.
First, here are all the planets outside our solar system that we've discovered so far. There's nearly 2,000:
And here are all the planets we know are in the Goldilocks Zone around their own stars. These are the potentially habitable ones:
A fairly large number have a similar atmosphere and composition to Earth:
While it doesn't mean all these planets have the other conditions necessary to support life (like water), it's still pretty staggering to see the potential — we haven't even scratched the surface of these worlds.
Interact with the full animation below.
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