You know, you probably thought that Earth was the one and only place that you will ever live, but there's a very real possibility that, in your lifetime, you might be living on another planet.
Here are 10 planets outside of Earth that you could live on.
10: Proxima Centauri B
Proxima Centauri B is an exoplanet, discovered in August of 2016, that orbits the habitable zone of a red dwarf star named Proxima Centauri. At just 4.2 light years away, it's one of our closest celestial neighbors that has the potential for survivable living conditions and liquid water. It's actually 30% bigger than Earth and fully orbits the sun in just 11 days, something that Earth only achieves every 365 days.
So, in other words, you'll be having birthday parties a lot more often. The only downside is that the dwarf sun that shines on the planet from five million miles away only gives off 2% of the light that we receive on Earth.
This means that daytime there would look a lot like twilight or dusk here. It's uncertain whether or not it would be completely suitable for settlement, because it has a lot of different issues, like solar winds that are 2000 times stronger than those on Earth. And we also don't know exactly what it's atmosphere is made out of, but once we figure it out, it could very well be the next Earth.
9: Kepler-62f
Kepler-62fm discovered on April 18th, 2013, is a super-Earth type exoplanet that lives in the habitable zone of a seven billion year-old star that is 12,000 light years away. 62f is thought to be either a rocky planet like Earth or a water world, covered by oceans.
In either case, it's a great candidate for alien life and feasible for hosting human life, should we ever be able to manage the trip there.nIt makes a full a full orbit around its sun every 267 days, and its sun gives it 41% of the sunlight that we receive here on Earth.
However, the planet might be tidally locked in orbit, meaning that one side is always facing the sun while the other side is always dark. This, obviously, causes extreme temperatures on either side and narrows the area for life to survive down to the border between light and dark, where the temperature sits in a comfortable middle ground.
At this point, we really don't know 100% for sure, but it's definitely a cool candidate planet.
8: Kepler-186f
Discovered on April 17th, 2014 by the Kepler space observatory, Kepler-186f is an exoplanet that orbits near the outer rim of its sun's habitable zone, where it isn't too hot or too cold for life to be sustained. This rocky terrain planet is nearly 10% bigger than Earth, and lives in the Kepler-186 system, which is roughly 500 light years away from us. Better start building some long-haul rockets.
It completes one full orbit around the sun in 130 days and only receives 33% of the light that our Earth normally gets from our sun, meaning it's brightest hours kind of look like the hour before sunset on Earth. But hey, if you can get past the low levels of light, this could be a pretty swell planet to potentially live on. But the planet's orbit does place it in the risk zone for being tidally locked, with odds being about 50/50 that one side could be constantly in contact with the sun. So, bring some shades and some shorts. And sunscreen, sunscreen's important, people.
7: Kepler-452b
Discovered on July 23rd, 2015, Kepler-452b is an exoplanet known as a super-Earth, since it has around five times the mass of our humble little rock here in space. Its sun would appear very similar to how ours appears on Earth, and it completes a full orbit after 385 days, which is also quite similar to us. Since 452b is larger, it also has twice the gravity that we have here on Earth and receives more sun energy, making it hotter than Earth.
But the potential for life and settlement is high, if we are ever able to manage to get to it. The Kepler-452b system is 14,000 light years away, and it would take a ship traveling at about 37,000 miles per hour 26 million years to arrive, making cryogenic sleep a mandatory requirement for this journey.
If you've ever wanted to be frozen, this is your chance. Since the planet mirrors Earth so closely, but on a larger scale and with more heat energy, it's susceptible to the greenhouse effect, so it could actually become a giant ball of hot death by the time we get there. So that one's definitely gonna take some planning, let's be careful on that.
6: Gilese-667 Cc
Discovered in 2011, this exoplanet lives 23.6 light years away, in the habitable zone of a system that has three suns. The planet only orbits the smallest star in the Gilese-667 system, known as the C, while its companions are known as A and B. 667 Cc is a super-Earth, with around four times the mass that Earth has and a year that lasts only 28 days.
And you thought you didn't have enough hours in the day on Earth. The red dwarf star it orbits lies 11.5 million miles away, which is actually pretty close, and appears three times bigger in the sky than our sun does. But interestingly, only gives off 20% of the light that our sun gives us, giving the planet's daytime a permanent late afternoon feeling. The other two suns in the system are distant from the planet but they still appear as two bright spots in the sky.
They're kind of like two little permanent night lights. This planet's orbit distance places its surface temperature at around 86 degrees Fahrenheit, increasing its chances of harboring liquid water.
5: Kepler-22b
Kepler-22b is an exoplanet that orbits in the inner edge of the sun's habitable zone, 600 light years away from us. Discovered in December of 2011, Kepler-22b is twice the size of Earth and has a year of 290 days, with a possible average temperature of only around 12.2 degrees Fahrenheit.
But while it's reasonable for humanity to survive here, it won't be a similar experience to Earth. 22b's outer shell is likely to be composed mostly of either liquid or gas, and the most optimistic estimate is that its liquid water combined with the greenhouse effected atmosphere likely keeps the planet at a nice 71.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
So, this would be a prime contender for our next home world, should we have the technology to travel there. Even if the estimates are off, this planet's extreme conditions still make it habitable for a lot of possible alien life that may have evolved in the outer liquid layer.
4: Gilese-832c
Gilese-832c is the fourth-closest habitable exoplanet to Earth. At just 16 light years away, in the red dwarf system of Gilese-832. The planet is another super-Earth, with 5.2 times the mass of our planet, it orbits the inner edge of its star's habitable zone, completing a year in just 36 days.
It might be huge, but it moves fast around that sun. It's expected to have temperatures that are fairly similar to ours on Earth, but due to its size, the seasonal changes would be fairly extreme during its rotations.
A common theme among many super-Earths is that their atmospheres can become heavy enough to cause extreme greenhouse effects, trapping their sun's heat inside and cranking up the temperatures to life-killing levels. Alternatively, due to its close orbit with the sun, it could be tidally locked. That being said, if all is well on 832c, it will definitely be on our short list for places to run to if Earth fails.
And let's be honest, a lot of you probably don't recycle, so them greenhouses gasses is just buildin' up.
3: Gilese-581g
Gilese-581g, also known as Zarmina, is a yet-to-be-confirmed exoplanet discovered September 29th, 2010. It closely orbits the Gilese-581g red dwarf star, a mere 20 light years away from Earth. The bad news for this somewhat close option to Earth is that it's tidally locked with the sun.
But if a strong atmosphere exists on the planet, it could circulate the heat from the sunny side over to the dark side, making it much more habitable. Gilese-581g is about one and a half times the size of Earth, and is thought to have temperatures between negative 35 and 10 degrees Fahrenheit, due to the weaker energy output from its small sun.
But who cares if it's small, man? It's still tryin'! The astronomer who discovered it, Steven Vogt, believes that the chances of finding life on this planet are 100%, which is an extremely optimistic presumption. With 581g being relatively close, we may get to see if his hypothesis is correct someday, and better yet, we may actually get to visit it.
2: Trappist-1e
And this one gets the award for the coolest name. Discovered on February 22nd, 2017, Trappist-1e is a rocky exoplanet in the habitable zone of the ultra-cool red dwarf called Trappist-1. The planet is 40 light years away from us, and it has many impressive qualities, like 74% of our gravity, a very similar size to Earth, a temperature of negative seven degrees Fahrenheit, and a high chance of liquid water on its surface.
Since the Trappist-1 sun is so small, 1e can orbit it in just six days, and its so energy-efficient, it could last 500 times longer than our current sun. In fact, it could possibly outlive many of the stars in our universe. Besides the positives, Trappist-1e does have issues with tidal locking, meaning that the only habitable areas on the planets surface would be along something called the terminator line.
Besides just being an amazing term, it's actually where the light meets the dark and creates a somewhat stable temperature balance, but what's kind of strange is even if we all have to live on that thin line between light and dark, it's still one of our best options at the moment.
1: Mars
Okay, you knew this one was number one. With such limited time and limited technology to find a suitable home, it's best to look nextdoor. Mars could very well be the next permanent home for humanity, and we may be able to see it happen in our lifetime. The red planet could make a great candidate for life, with its ancient water-rich soil, a healthy amount of sunlight, and a similar day length that is only 40 minutes longer than ours.
The gravity there is much weaker, only 38% of ours, but is still within the acceptable ranges for us to survive and adapt. If we are able to successfully terraform Mars, its thin atmosphere that already protects the planet from the sun's radiation could hold oxygen and become breathable. Companies like SpaceX are currently training teams of astronaut settlers for colonizing Mars, with the first group blasting off in 2031. We could literally see homes on Mars in our very near future.
I really hope you enjoyed it.!
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