New Earths?

Last year, scientists reviewing the data from NASA’s Kepler satellite revised their extrapolation from the probe’s first tentative look at one tiny swath of our galaxy. They now estimate that the Milky Way may contain 17 billion earth-sized planets. Between half a billion and a billion of these may be “Earth-like.”

The candidates are already appearing. Kepler-62f and e are two newly discovered planets orbiting inside the habitable zone of a star smaller and cooler than the sun. They are both less than twice the size of the earth and one is inferred to have a rocky composition like the inner planets here. A third planet, Kepler-69c, is 70 percent larger than Earth and orbits in the habitable zone of a star similar to our sun. These star systems are both over a thousand lights years away, but other habitable planets will likely be nearer.

The hunt is on, and it is perhaps not to soon to dream of high-speed interstellar probes, but what do you think? Would finding forests and fisheries on other worlds rock your view of the universe? If you had the chance, would you go and visit such a world? Leave a comment and let me know.