"...astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, have found that 6 percent of red dwarf stars have habitable Earth-sized planets. Since red dwarfs are the most common stars in our galaxy, the closest Earth-like planet could be just 13 light-years away.
Red dwarf stars are smaller, cooler, and fainter than our Sun. An average red dwarf is only one-third as large and one-thousandth as bright as the Sun. From Earth, no red dwarf is visible to the naked eye.
Since the size of a transiting planet is determined relative to the star size, based on how much of the star’s disk the planet covers, shrinking the star shrinks the planet. And a cooler star will have a tighter habitable zone.
Dressing identified 95 planetary candidates orbiting red dwarf stars. This implied that at least 60 percent of such stars have planets smaller than Neptune. However, most weren’t quite the right size or temperature to be considered truly Earth-like. Three planetary candidates were both warm and approximately Earth-sized. Statistically, this means that 6 percent of all red dwarf stars should have an Earth-like planet.
The three habitable-zone planetary candidates identified in this study are Kepler Object of Interest (KOI) 1422.02, which is 90 percent the size of Earth in a 20-day orbit; KOI 2626.01, 1.4 times the size of Earth in a 38-day orbit; and KOI 854.01, 1.7 times the size of Earth in a 56-day orbit. All three are located about 300 to 600 light-years away and orbit stars with temperatures between 5700° and 5900° Fahrenheit (3100° and 3300° Celsius). For comparison, our Sun’s surface is 10000° F (5500° C)." Astronomy.com
Red dwarf stars are smaller, cooler, and fainter than our Sun. An average red dwarf is only one-third as large and one-thousandth as bright as the Sun. From Earth, no red dwarf is visible to the naked eye.
Since the size of a transiting planet is determined relative to the star size, based on how much of the star’s disk the planet covers, shrinking the star shrinks the planet. And a cooler star will have a tighter habitable zone.
Dressing identified 95 planetary candidates orbiting red dwarf stars. This implied that at least 60 percent of such stars have planets smaller than Neptune. However, most weren’t quite the right size or temperature to be considered truly Earth-like. Three planetary candidates were both warm and approximately Earth-sized. Statistically, this means that 6 percent of all red dwarf stars should have an Earth-like planet.
The three habitable-zone planetary candidates identified in this study are Kepler Object of Interest (KOI) 1422.02, which is 90 percent the size of Earth in a 20-day orbit; KOI 2626.01, 1.4 times the size of Earth in a 38-day orbit; and KOI 854.01, 1.7 times the size of Earth in a 56-day orbit. All three are located about 300 to 600 light-years away and orbit stars with temperatures between 5700° and 5900° Fahrenheit (3100° and 3300° Celsius). For comparison, our Sun’s surface is 10000° F (5500° C)." Astronomy.com
Whether they are "habitable" or not, they are known by name- Lift up your eyes on high,
and behold who hath created these things,
that
bringeth out their host by number:
he calleth them all by names by the greatness
of his might,
for that he is strong in power;
Isaiah 40:26
