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The Right Coast
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A Trillion Worlds

By Thomas A. Smith

To astronomers lasting surprise, it is now clear that the average planetary system in the galaxy looks a lot more like the Jovian moons than like the sun s planets. Of order half of nearby stars have at least one (and often several) worlds with masses substantially greater than Earth and orbital periods ranging from mere days to weeks; in our system, the space interior to tiny Mercury s 88-day orbit is entirely empty.

via getpocket.com