The language of exoplanet ranking metrics needs to change

We have found many Earth-sized worlds but we have no way of determining if their surfaces are Earth-like. This makes it impossible to quantitatively compare habitability, and pretending we can risks damaging the field.

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNature astronomy Vol. 1; no. 2
Main Authors Tasker, Elizabeth, Tan, Joshua, Heng, Kevin, Kane, Stephen, Spiegel, David
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Nature Publishing Group UK 02.02.2017
Nature Publishing Group
Subjects
639/33/445/862
706/648
Astronomy
Astrophysics
Astrophysics and Cosmology
comment
Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics
Physics
Physics and Astronomy
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Summary:We have found many Earth-sized worlds but we have no way of determining if their surfaces are Earth-like. This makes it impossible to quantitatively compare habitability, and pretending we can risks damaging the field.
ISSN:2397-3366
2397-3366
DOI:10.1038/s41550-017-0042