If humans were forced to evacuate Earth , what would be the best candidate to move among our neighbors? A study from the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo provides the first quantitative assessment of the most habitable places in the solar system.
? It is surprising that there is no agreement on a quantitative definition of habitability in astrobiology ,? laments Abel Méndez, biophysicist and lead author of the study. For his ranking, Méndez has calculated the space of each planet and satellite potentially habitable by different terrestrial microorganisms. Their results show that Enceladus , despite its small size, would have the highest score in habitability (H = 0.5) , more than Earth itself (H = 0.4). However, Enceladus is too far from our planet and the Sun to try to "make a move." In the ranking they are followed by Mars and the Europa satellite.
"This work is important because it provides an objective measure to compare the habitability of different climates and planetary systems," said Chris McKay, an expert from NASA, who plans to use the scale developed by Méndez to evaluate some exoplanets.
