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Study finds that 24 'superhabitable' planets may be more suitable for life than Earth

Posted at 2:54 PM, Oct 07, 2020
and last updated 2020-10-07 17:54:59-04

A study led by researchers from Washington State University found 24 planets that may be more suitable for life than Earth.

According to the study, which was published in the journal Astrobiology, the key points the researchers used to describe the "superhabitable" planets were between 5-8 billion years old, wetter, lightly larger, orbit around a particular star, and slightly warmer than Earth.

Researchers also noted that some planets orbit stars that change slowly and have longer life-spans than the sun, which means life could thrive on the 24 planets.

More than 4,000 exoplanets, which are planets outside our solar system, were researched before researchers settled on the 24 top contenders.

None of the 24 planets checked off all the boxes, researchers said.

The study stated that the superhabitable planets are located more than 100 light-years away.