Milky Way galaxy has hundreds of millions of potentially habitable planets, says new study

A new study has suggested that the Milky Way Galaxy harbours one-third of planets that have water and as a consequence, are suitable for life.

This study, based on recent telescope data provided by the Kepler Mission, states that there are billions of planets — which are smaller and cooler, with half the mass of the Sun — that revolve around M dwarfs (also knowns Red dwarf).

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Of those, around two-thirds of the planets could be “roasted” by tidal extremes and sterilising them, leaving one-third of the planets across the galaxy in the Goldilocks zone possibly habitable.

“I think this result is really important for the next decade of exoplanet research, because eyes are shifting toward this population of stars. These stars are excellent targets to look for small planets in an orbit where it’s conceivable that water might be liquid and therefore the planet might be habitable,” said Sheila Sagear, lead author of the study, in a press statement. Sagear is a doctoral student at the University of Florida.

According to the study, this is possible because of a phenomenon called tidal heating. The planets that orbit around M dwarfs are elongated and have oval orbits, leaving them fried by the star if they're close enough.

The tidal heating is generateddue to the planets orbiting in an oval shape, which leads to stretching and squeezing from the star's gravity.

Thestretching and squeezing cause friction heat and as a result, a planet loses its water, along with the chances for life to evolve on its surface.

If a planet around an M dwarf was further away, that distance may prevent torment by tidal heating — but, then the planet would be too cold, lacking the warmth needed for life. Therefore, exoplanets around M dwarfs must live close to their stars for even a chance of being warm enough for life, putting them at risk of tidal heating if their orbit isn’t a clean circle.

It's only for these small stars that the zone of habitability is close enough for these tidal forces to be relevant," Sarah Ballard said in the statement.

These findings were published on May 30 in the peer-reviewed Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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