Exoplanet Neighborhood
Exoplanet Neighborhood
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD A portrait of all habitable-zone planets within 60 light-years of Earth (constructed from statistical data on typical planet sizes and orbits)
[The image shows many planets in different colors and a legend shows planets at different sizes.] Planets around sun-like stars Planets around other stars [A marker on both sides:] Earth-sized planets
[Center of the image.] Earth

The diagram is a graphical representation of the statistically predicted distribution of nearby exoplanets (planets not in our solar system), based on the assumption that the exoplanets that are currently known have a distribution of orbits, sizes, and star types that is similar to the actual distribution. Astronomers are particularly interested in exoplanets within 60 light years of Earth which lie in a habitable zone ; that is, a planet whose orbit is within a certain range of distance from a star such that water could exist in a liquid state.
Since almost all life on Earth (which is the only place we've actually found life thus far) depends on liquid water in some way, these planets are considered the most likely to support life. The diagram categorizes exoplanets in two ways. The disc color indicates the characteristics of the central star, with a reddish tone indicating hypothetical planets that orbit stars similar in characteristics to our sun, while grey indicates those that orbit stars unlike our sun. The disc sizes indicates the hypothetical size of the exoplanets, with planets similar to Earth's size depicted in a slightly darker shade of either color. Because the discs represent a distribution, their positioning within the diagram is irrelevant; the spacing around the title and the Earth is an artistic choice.
It appears that the diagram is intended to cause the viewer to conclude that there are a significant number of Earth-sized planets orbiting Sun-type stars which could be habitable, and even more possibly-habitable planets around other types of stars or in other sizes.
The title text, "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!" is an allusion to the former PBS television show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood in which the same line presents itself in the opening song, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" .
The title of the comic was changed from what is currently the title text to "Exoplanet Neighborhood".
Randall has commented on the results of exoplanet research before, in 786: Exoplanets and 1071: Exoplanets .
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD A portrait of all habitable-zone planets within 60 light-years of Earth (constructed from statistical data on typical planet sizes and orbits)
[The image shows many planets in different colors and a legend shows planets at different sizes.] Planets around sun-like stars Planets around other stars [A marker on both sides:] Earth-sized planets
[Center of the image.] Earth
