It has been more than 25 years since the release of the movies like E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Man has forever desired to explore the galaxy, and discover a world where life might exist. But, in our attempt to find such a planet, we have only found worlds where life could never exist.
So the recent news that 32 additional planets have been found, bringing the total to more than 400, may not sound too exciting. However, buried in the findings is the fact that 6 of the 32 new planets are classified as Super-Earths.
Super-Earths are planets with similar characteristics to Earth, but are considerably larger -- typically at least 5 times as large as Earth, with some more than 5 times the size of Jupiter.
Of course a planet closer to the size of Earth would be necessary to support life, but these objects are currently hard to find given their smaller size. However, our ability to readily detect these Super-Earths, teamed with coming advances in technology, should allow scientists to begin finding Earth sized planets in the next 5 to 10 years.
And, while more than 400 extrasolar planets have been discovered, only about 20 had previously been classified as Super-Earths. So, this discovery is leading scientists to believe that there are more Super-Earths out in the Milky Way Galaxy than previously thought. In Fact, some propose that more than 40% of stars in our Galaxy could have these Earth-like planets orbiting them.
The next logical question then, of course, is could any of these worlds sustain life. Well, that is a little more complicated. The planet not only has to be Earth-like, but also reside a certain distance from its host star -- in a region known as the habitable zone. If a planet is too close to the star the planet will become too hot and be hit with too much solar radiation. If the planet is too far away not enough radiation and heat will reach the planet.
So, while we have yet to find another planet where life may exist, scientists believe that we are getting very close. Given the vast amount of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy, and the high probability that an Earth-like planet could be orbiting any given star, it seems to be only a matter of time. I, for one, am still hoping.
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