Our Fortunate Earth

Our world would be a much more chaotic place if Jupiter’s orbit was only slightly different.

- Lewis Dartnell

One of the central questions in planetary science, and the possibility of life elsewhere in the cosmos, is how ordinary our own planet is. Is Earth in some way in a special situation, offering unusually clement conditions for the emergence of life, or are there potentially multitudes of planets in our Galaxy that could be alive? This question is becoming more and more important in light of the fact that we continue to discover extoplanets. What features would these far-flung worlds need to offer the best hope for harbouring extra terrestral life, and therefore which candidates should we shortlist for our follow-up telescopic observations of their atmospheres to look for signs of biology?