Most earth like worlds yet to be born

Washington: There should at least be one billion Earth-sized worlds in the Milky Way galaxy at present, scientists have theorised, adding that in the entire universe, bulk of life-supporting planets 92 percent are yet to be born.

Based on the data collected by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the prolific planet-hunting Kepler space observatory, researchers report that when our solar system was born 4.6 billion years ago, only eight percent of the potentially habitable planets that will ever form in the universe existed.

The party will not be over when the sun burns out in another six billion years. "Our main motivation was understanding the Earth's place in the context of the rest of the universe.

Compared to all the planets that will ever form in the universe, the Earth is actually quite early," explained study author Peter Behroozi of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland. A good portion of these Earth-like worlds is presumed to be rocky.