A comparison of Earth, at right, with a theorized super-habitable planet, at left. In theory, planets orbiting lower-mass stars than our Sun, with slightly larger radii and masses than our planet, and closer to the centers of their so-called habitable zones may be more likely to have life survive and thrive, and be home to greater biodiversity than Earth. Without evidence, this idea is tantamount to little more than guesswork. (Credit: Pho3niX/Wikimedia Commons)
NASA is creating a planet habitability index, and Earth may not be at the top. With our current data, ranking habitability is guesswork.
Here on Earth, life took hold very early on in our planet’s history — within the first few hundred million years at the latest — and has persisted…
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