Massive information may reside within an "eco-pixel"
- sciart0
- Mar 29
- 1 min read
KEY TAKEAWAYS
In the coming years and decades, several ambitious projects will reach completion, finally giving humanity the capability to image Earth-size planets at Earth-like distances around Sun-like stars.
Recent data suggests that there are around ~10 billion such planets within the Milky Way alone, and with each one being like a lottery ticket, it’s only a matter of time (and statistics) before we find one that’s potentially inhabited.
Remarkably, even though these exo-Earths will appear as just one lonely pixel in our detectors, we can use that data to detect continents, oceans, icecaps, forests, deserts, and more. Here’s the fascinating science that’s just over the horizon.