Brilio.net/en - Its a question we all ask ourselves at least once: are we alone? This quest of trying to know if there is another form of life beyond Earth has been interesting humankind since time immemorial. And it seems that we are finally getting closer and closer to the answer!
Three planets presenting a lot of similarities with the planet Earth have been recently discovered! Even though its too early to say if they could potentially become our new homes in the next centuries, this discovery is a great news in the astronomic scene. The planets characteristics are so alike on a chemical point of view to the Earth that even if the potential of growing life on them remains uncertain, it is still a great exploratory ground for scientists.
It will unfortunately take another five to ten years before elements such as the mass, the composition and the temperature of those planets to be studied in order to find out if life could be present in any way.
An Exoplanet is a planet outside of the solar system. Most of them are turning around a star and located about 400 light years away from us Because of the distance and of the lack of luminosity, most of them were discovered after the 90s.
Even if it seems pretty exciting to imagine that we might one day found the other living creatures of the galaxy, it would be best to remain realistic and remember the fact that exoplanets are actually discovered pretty often. Already a few less than 2.000 have been found, and there still has been no sign of any kind of aliens.
However, as the universe is impossible to measure, our current reach of exploration is so insignificant compared to its infinite size, its also incredible to realise the progress that have been made lately in astronomy and how fast new technologies are being developed. Maybe we might actually be surprised earlier than we think!
(brl/red)
