>But it seems unclear to me how the researchers would distinguish between one super-Earth and >10^10 smaller rocks?

I have a similar feeling when life on earth is suggested to be "alien", arriving via debris in the solar system as the earth formed. Isn't everything in the solar system coalesced from the same debris?

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jojobas an hour ago | parent [-]

The life-bearing debris would have to arrive quite some time after formation of Earth, as it was molten. Surviving atmospheric entry is hard, surviving after landing in lava is impossible.

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hydrogen7800 an hour ago | parent | next [-]

I was going to expand on my comment about the difference between alien and non-alien being a difference only in time. It's all from the same stuff.

	▲	post-it 33 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		It makes a difference to our understanding of the conditions under which life can form.

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gohomeloser an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

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