Exoplanet Catalog Reveals 7 Possibly Habitable Worlds A new catalog aims to list all the known planets in the galaxy that could potentially be habitable to life. The count is at seven so far, with many more to come, researchers said. Image: More exoplanets than expected in the first year of the Habitable Exoplanets Catalog. Image released Dec. 6, 2012. Credit: PHL @ UPR Arecibo, ESA/Hubble, NASA The online listing, called the Habitable Exoplanets Catalog, celebrated its first anniversary today (Dec. 5). When it was first released last year, it had two potential habitable planets to its name. According to lead researcher Abel Mendez, the team expected to add maybe one or two more in the catalog’s first year. The addition of five suspected new planets was wholly beyond anyone’s expectations. “The main purpose is for research, but then I realized that also for the public, it was very important,” said Mendez, director of the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo’s Planetary Habitability Laboratory.

Exoplanet Catalog Reveals 7 Possibly Habitable Worlds

A new catalog aims to list all the known planets in the galaxy that could potentially be habitable to life. The count is at seven so far, with many more to come, researchers said.

Image: More exoplanets than expected in the first year of the Habitable Exoplanets Catalog. Image released Dec. 6, 2012. Credit: PHL @ UPR Arecibo, ESA/Hubble, NASA

The online listing, called the Habitable Exoplanets Catalog, celebrated its first anniversary today (Dec. 5). When it was first released last year, it had two potential habitable planets to its name. According to lead researcher Abel Mendez, the team expected to add maybe one or two more in the catalog’s first year. The addition of five suspected new planets was wholly beyond anyone’s expectations.

“The main purpose is for research, but then I realized that also for the public, it was very important,” said Mendez, director of the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo’s Planetary Habitability Laboratory.