Our Galaxy: 37,964 Habitable Planets and 361 Advanced Civilizations
Our galaxy is big, really big — so the odds are in our favor that Earth is not a fluke. Of course this thinking is old news at this point, however what’s new is that astrophysicists are starting to crunch numbers on the subject based upon what we currently know from the field of astronomy. Once such fellow is Astrophysicist Duncan Forgan who has been crunching the numbers based on what we know about the currently discovered 330 known exoplanets. His estimate took into account factors like temperature, availability of water (so yes it’s “life as we know it”) and the size of the Milky Way.
Now the bad news is that some of these planets might just be filled with sad little amoebas swimming about — but the potential good news is that Forgan thinks that some of these 37,964 planets may indeed have intelligent life, in fact the exact number is 361 intelligent civilizations. And being a betting man Forgan is willing to go one step further and predict that in the next 300 to 400 years we’ll have our first contact. Of course as a fanboy I hope this happens sooner rather than later…
Found via telegraph.co.uk.