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Superearths?

neopeiusnneopeius
edited July 2015 in AstroSynthesis General
So, it's now looking like Superearths may be the most common type of planet. This is at odds with prevailing theories and solar system generators that assumed Earth was one of the bigger terrestrial planets, and that there was a desert between Earth and Uranus.

Will Astrosynthesis be modified to reflect this?

Comments

  • Ed_NBOSEd_NBOS
    There's no reason to believe that such planets are the most common type of body. They're just more commonly found because they are large and easier to spot. Astro's generator does on occassion make terrestrial bodies that are larger than Earth... it's just not very common. Often they end up with very heavy hydrogen atmospheres because such planets can hold that gas (sort of proto-gas giants). Some sometimes evolve into water worlds as well. And of course, you can add in new planets or edit existing ones of whatever size you'd like.
  • neopeiusnneopeius
    The recent Kepler data suggests that Superearths are the most common type of body. With several thousand planet candidates as data, it's not hard to remove selection bias.
  • KeithMKKeithM
    There's some work suggesting Earth might be on the low end of possible habitable planets.
  • neopeiusnneopeius
    Precisely. I think star-system generators are going to need a whole new algorithm with all the data that's been collected in the past decade.
  • JohnClaybornJJohnClayborn
    Ed_NBOS is right; there's no hard evidence to support the notion that SuperEarths are the most prolific type of planet. The larger, bigger planets were easier to see at first. 9 of the 16 Extrasolar planets detected by microlensing are smaller than Earth. Roughly half of the confirmed extrasolar planets detected by Radial Velocity are Earth Sized or smaller (and roughly 1/3rd of the candidates are smaller too). Of the planets detected through Transitioning, more than half are Earth-Sized or smaller.
  • neopeiusnneopeius
    Hi folks. Two years down the line, the evidence has only strengthened for the preponderance of SuperEarths in the universe. It's not just selection bias.

    Will this be incorporated into Astrosynthesis 3.2 or 4.0?

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