Which Planet Is Most Like Earth—and Who Decides?

Research topic and question

• Which Planet Is Most Like Earth——and Who Decides
• Download the latest NASA Exoplanet Archive data and compare rankings based on size, temperature and distance from Earth. Does changing what we value change the winner? Use https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/docs/TAP/usingTAP.html and the archive’s parameter definitions.

Research findings

The ranking depends on which properties are treated as most important:

• Size-only: eight planets tie at exactly 1.0 Earth radius.
• Temperature-only: HD 40307 g is the unique 255 K winner.
• Distance-only: Proxima Centauri b and d tie because they belong to the same system.
• All five composite rankings have unique winners.