40 Billion & Counting - In just our Galaxy

BRT has often talked about the possibility of life existing on other planets, (They're Everywhere) something this author thinks, is a done deal given just how vast the multiverse truly is. Seems that Kepler has upped the ante for this part of reality as per the NY Times piece titled. 

Cosmic Census Finds Billions of Planets That Could Be Like Earth

Astronomers reported Monday that there could be as many as 40 billion habitable Earth-size planets in the galaxy, based on a new analysis of data from NASA’s Kepler spacecraft.

One of every five sun-like stars in the galaxy has a planet the size of Earth circling it in the Goldilocks zone — not too hot, not too cold — where surface temperatures should be compatible with liquid water, according to a herculean three-year calculation based on data from the Kepler spacecraft by Erik Petigura, a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley.

Needless to say, the odds that BRT may be right, thanks to Kepler, warms the cockles of my heart. :)

Click on the graphic below to access the terrific interactive NY Times graphic to see the different kinds of planetary systems Kepler has discovered to date. Simply unbelievable yet it's just the tip of the iceberg in man's search for extraterrestrial life especially in lieu of the fact there are approximately 200 billion galaxies in our part of the multiverse, which means... the number of earth sized planets in our neck of th woods goes beyond calculation.