Earth-Like Planets

Over the past 2 or 3 years there have been several discoveries of "Earth-like" planets. I use quotations over "Earth-like" because we have no way of actually knowing if these planets could sustain human life.

For a planet to be categorized as "Earth-like," it has to orbit a star.  The star must have a certain mass and it must produce a certain amount of radiation (heat). The star must not be close enough to toast the planet hint hint: Mercury.  This planet must fall into a distance range that gives the planet a balance between hot and cold temperatures. The planet usually is somewhere around Venus's orbit  but not much further out than were Mar's orbit is (in distance terms of our solar system). "Earth-like" planets can be much bigger than earth or much smaller (probably not as small as Pluto).

Astronomers have discovered many planets that fall into the category of "Earth-like," but understand that these planets are not necessarily like the Earth.  These planets "could" be able to support life, but on the other hand they could be dangerous. Weather on the planets could be very severe; storms, hurricanes, tornadoes etc. could all be devastating.  Also the planets could be dangerous as in Mars (very cold, bad atmosphere) or Venus (crushing atmosphere, temperatures that kill.)

As far as I am concerned the human population better find a planet to migrate to soon or we will all be toast.  If you plan on living on Earth for another 4.5 billion years, you better prepare yourself for a big move. Make sure to pack light as there will be a lot of people moving at the same time. Oh yeah, take pictures and post them to facebook. Don't forget to tag me in the pictures! :)