Super-Earths retain habitable conditions for 80 billion years

Super-Earths live up to their name when it comes to maintaining habitable conditions. According to

According to a new study, this is due to the fact that massive exoplanets can retain atmosphere and water for tens of billions of years.

Exoplanets like Earth, theoreticallycapable of supporting life for much longer periods of time than that - up to 80 billion years. For comparison, the entire Universe is believed to be 13.7 billion years old.

At a sufficient distance from the host starthe hydrogen-helium atmosphere can persist for a long time and not be destroyed by stellar wind particles. At the right distance, the planet will also be warming due to the greenhouse effect.

Moreover, calculations by scientists showed thatThe density of the atmosphere of exoplanets can be 100–1,000 times greater than that of Earth. Under such conditions, not only can liquid water exist, but it can also persist longer than the time required for the emergence and development of life. Also, the mass of these exoplanets is usually 10 times the mass of the Earth.

Scientists' findings will influence the search for extraterrestrial life,because this means scientists may be more likely to find alien life by focusing on super-Earths. According to a recent estimate, there are about 30,000 exoplanets of this type within a thousand light years of us.

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