Some exoplanets show what is happening on Earth

Lisa Kaltenegger, assistant professor of astronomy in the College of Arts and Sciences and director of the Cornell Carls Institute

Sagan, and Joshua Pepper, assistant professor of physics atLehigh University have collectively identified 1,004 stars similar to our Sun that may harbor Earth-like planets in their own habitable zones. All of them are located approximately 300 light years from Earth. 

But which star systems can detect Earth?The Earth's ecliptic can answer this question. This is the plane of the Earth's orbit around the Sun. The ecliptic is where exoplanets that see Earth will be located, as they will be where Earth crosses its own Sun. This will open up a view of our planet from exoplanets. 

Pepper and Kaltenegger created a list of thousands of nearby stars using the NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) star catalog.

Only a very small fraction of exoplanets are randomwill be aligned with our line of sight. But all the thousands of stars that we identified in our article as being in the vicinity of the Sun could see our Earth passing by the Sun. 

Joshua Pepper, assistant professor of physics at Lehigh University

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