
First Earth-Size World in the 'Habitable Zone' Found - tambourine_man
https://www.space.com/nasa-tess-first-earth-size-habitable-exoplanet-toi-700d.html
======
monkeycantype
'completes one orbit every 10 Earth days'

Excellent news for fans of the French Revolutionary Calendar.

'The French Revolutionary Calendar, created at the same time as the metric
system, was an attempt to create a metric calendar and time system.'
[https://www.cooksinfo.com/french-revolutionary-
calendar](https://www.cooksinfo.com/french-revolutionary-calendar)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_calendar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Republican_calendar)
[https://twitter.com/sansculotides](https://twitter.com/sansculotides)

------
stuaxo
I wasn't wearing my glasses and read it as "Flat earth size world found in
habitable zone found" which would be a very different story.

------
stevenwliao
Are planets that are earth-sized more likely to contain life than ones
without?

~~~
nwallin
Yes.

Planets that are smaller than Earth are much more likely to have their
hydrogen stripped away by their host star, leaving them without water.

Planets that are larger than Earth are likely to have their growth accelerate
into gas giants. Mass distribution of planets shows a gap in sizes between
about 1.5 and 2 times the size of the Earth.

Life requires complex chemistry. Complex chemistry can't happen in the dense,
hot cores of gas giants, because the heat will destroy any interesting
chemicals. Complex chemistry can't happen in the solid phase, because nothing
moves around very much. Even though complex chemistry can happen in the
gaseous phase, life can't start, because the simple life precursors can't bind
themselves. So it requires a liquid. Liquid either means water, so not small
planets, or temperatures found only outside the habitable zone, which means
solvents other than water, which are unlikely to host life for a variety of
reasons.

~~~
perl4ever
Water doesn't have to be on the surface.

