Earth-like planet find 'imminent'

Astronomers say they are on the verge of finding planets like Earth orbiting other stars, a key step in determining if we are alone in the universe.

"The fundamental question is: are we alone? For the first time, there's an optimism that sometime in our lifetimes we're going to get to the bottom of that," said Simon "Pete" Worden, an astronomer who heads Nasa's Ames Research Centre.

"If I were a betting man, which I am, I would bet we're not alone -- there is a lot of life."

Even the Roman Catholic Church has held scientific conferences about the prospect of extraterrestrial life, including a meeting last November.


news.uk.msn.com...

Wow so this might be the disclosure, we may in our lifetimes discover another life form.
I dont care if its microbes or big tentacle apes, as long as it's ET im happy!

Mod Note: External Source Tags – Please Review This Link.

[edit on Fri Jan 8 2010 by Jbird]

reply to post by Haydn_17


Nah, not a disclosure of alien ships, but we will likely discover an earth-like planet with water and the signature of life in the next 5-10 years. Already found a super-earth with water.

It has been building up to this since the first discovery of extra-solar planets. With more technological advancements we've being expecting this to happen by 2020 for at least a good few years now.

Astronomers are more hopeful now than ever before, since Kepler is working like a champ. I can see how some people might be satisfied with microbial life elsewhere in the galaxy or universe, and believe me I would be like hey thats a little awesome. But I'm waiting for something like big tentacle apes before I do a back flip.

Please direct your comments to this ongoing Thread posted on Jan 7

Astronomers: We could find Earth-like planets soon


- Thread closed -