Question

Based on discoveries to date, how many planets do we think exist in our Milky Way galaxy?

a. More than the number of stars in the Milky Way (hundreds of billions)
b. We have no idea
c. A small fraction of the numbers of stars in the Galaxy

Answer 1

The Milky Way Galaxy is estimated to contain around 100 billion planets, considering that there are roughly 100 billion stars in our galaxy and many of them may have multiple planets.

Step-by-step explanation:

Based on the discoveries to date, it is estimated that there could be on the order of 100 billion planets in our Milky Way Galaxy. This estimation considers that there are approximately 100 billion stars of spectral types F, G, and K in the Galaxy, with potentially 30 billion Earth-size planets. If we broaden the criteria to include super-Earths, this number could increase to around 100 billion planets. Considering that nearly every star is now believed to have planets, these figures suggest there is a significant population of planets within our Galaxy.