Prevalence of Earth-size planets orbiting Sun-like stars

A major question is whether planets suitable for biochemistry are common or rare in the universe. Small rocky planets with liquid water enjoy key ingredients for biology. In this talk, I will highlight recent results from NASA's Kepler space telescope, including my own work to determine the frequency of potentially habitable Earth-size planets. Roughly one in five stars like the Sun harbor an Earth-size planet orbiting in their habitable zones. In the Milky Way galaxy alone, there are roughly 11 billion such planets. The nearest such planet may be within 12 light-years.

Speaker: Erik Petigura, UC Berkeley