The jungles of NeoVenus

ScienceDaily's roundup sends me to WSU where they press-release Dirk Schulze-Makuch, René Heller, and Edward Guinan. We got over 4000 planets; surely some must be Earthlike by now.

They think that a planet around a K type star would sit in its habitable zone longer than Earth has done. They are especially keen on K stars already about as old as Earth. They're also looking at larger planets with a larger core, which can keep its magnetic field up longer. They'll assuredly need that for the flares, which I expect more intense at a tighter orbit.

Their need for planetary radius has constrained the search to transits. All are from the Kepler "KOI" mission. It happens the candidates in their range all sit beyond 100 light years hence. None can be observed with TESS. But of these they netted twentyfour possibilities. So if there's (much!) over a 0.6% chance that a confirmed planet outside this shell is (potentially) habitable or better, then that's a chance we can roll for not-yet-found (nontransiting) planets in TESS range.

Neil Comins 1993 had it that our moon is a freak, not likely among exoEarths... like our own dear Venus. Although, closer to a K star, this might be fine. A moonless world's core will be spinning faster to generate a better field. We need that for the flares. Comins thinks we need decent tides to get amphibious vertebrate life up there. K's solar tides are close to compensating for the loss of lunar tides, as well, this sun being closer with its shorter year. Given all this - to critique Comins - a flatter world might not need the intensity of tides we got, to cover the same shoreline. K's planet will assuredly survive long enough to get its Devonian eventually, however delayed.

One interesting point is that they want warmer and wetter planets. They're banking that the spinning cores of larger planets will do better keeping the hydrogen in, than Venus has. That is: they want exactly what Burroughs and Smith hoped, for Venus.

NUMBERS 10/29: NASA estimates earthlikes. More going to G stars than to K, I think. RADIOACTIVES 11/11: Let us ask what's in the core. Stellar metallicity even in a K means our neo-Venus in its cool 0.7 AU orbit could end up... another Venus.