From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Wed Jul 09 2003 - 08:55:31 MDT
90 light years from Earth, the Sol-like star HD70642
has a 2x Jupiter mass planet orbiting in a roughly
circular orbit at 3.3 AU from the star with no large
planets detected in orbits closer to the sun. This
is a solar system that is the most similar to our own
solar system that has been discovered thus far in the
search for extra-solar planets.
Based on current statistics, it would thus appear that
solar systems like ours may have a frequency of ~2 in 100
or 1 in 50 (based on limited statistics of course).
This begins to set some hard numbers on some of the parameters
of the Drake Equation (e.g. f_p and n_e) and is likely to present
some problems to the "Rare Earth" proponents as well as those
proposing "we are the first" as solutions to the Fermi Paradox
and/or the Great Filter problems.
Robert
Links:
* Press Release & Images
http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Nw/Md/Press/HomeFromHome.asp
http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Nw/Artcl/images_to_accompany_press_releas.asp
* Discussion of the Drake Equation by F. D. Drake
The Radio Search for Intelligent Extraterrestrial Life
http://www.aeiveos.com/~bradbury/ETI/Authors/Drake-FD/TRSfIEL.html
* The Anglo-Australian Planet Search Home Page
http://www.aao.gov.au/local/www/cgt/planet/aat.html
* Exoplanets Home Page
http://exoplanets.org/
* The Extra-solar Planets Encyclopaedia
http://www.obspm.fr/encycl/encycl.html
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