London, February 28 (Agencies): arth is worth £3,000 trillion, according to an astrophysicist who claims to have created a formula to calculate the value of a planet. In fact, the astrophysicist, Greg Laughlin, came up with the figure by calculating the sum of the planet’s age, size, temperature, mass and other vital statistics - and Earth came out as the most expensive. “The formula makes you realise just how precious Earth is and I hope it will help us as a society safeguard what we have,” the ‘Daily Mail’ quoted him as saying. Mars was only valued at £10,000, while Venus is said to be worth less than a penny. There are about 1,235 other planets in the universe, most of which weren’t given a high price tag because of their inhospitable climates.
Prof Laughlin from the Univ of California invented the equation, which he used to evaluate the discoveries made by US space agency NASA’s £600 million Kepler spacecraft. The planet-hunting spacecraft went into orbit 2 years ago and a year later Laughlin decided to create price tags for the terrestrial planets that Keplar was to discover. At the time, the exoplanet Gilese 581 c was considered the most Earth-like world known to scientists, but the equation only valued it at £100, while KOI 326.01 is said to be worth £150,000.
Prof Laughlin from the Univ of California invented the equation, which he used to evaluate the discoveries made by US space agency NASA’s £600 million Kepler spacecraft. The planet-hunting spacecraft went into orbit 2 years ago and a year later Laughlin decided to create price tags for the terrestrial planets that Keplar was to discover. At the time, the exoplanet Gilese 581 c was considered the most Earth-like world known to scientists, but the equation only valued it at £100, while KOI 326.01 is said to be worth £150,000.
