Scientists pleasantly surprised by number of Earth-size, distant planets

CNN ^ | 2/19/11

[KevinDavis]

Where might extraterrestrials live? The first step is figuring out what other planets out there have conditions like our own.

Scientists using NASA's Kepler space telescope are working hard to find candidates for inhabitable planets. So far, it seems that for approximately every two stars in the galaxy, there is one possible planet, NASA's William Borucki said Saturday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Washington.

[KevinDavis]

[Aroostook25]

We are not alone!

But we are being left alone.

Probably because we have not matured enough to become civilized enough to be welcomed by the other civilizations.

[jimfree]

Class M.

[rsobin]

Pleasantly surprised implies an agenda. This is not science.

[Drango]

To serve man.

It’s a cook book!!!

[muir_redwoods]

"Save the Earth, it's where I keep all my stuff"

"Earth First! We can log the other planets later"

[cripplecreek]

And what agenda is that?

[Texas Eagle]

Scientists using NASA's Kepler space telescope are working hard to find candidates for inhabitable planets.

My gosh! This is fantastic news!

Hopefully we'll throw gobs and gobs of taxpayer money at this.

[The Magical Mischief Tour]

[Texas Eagle]

So far, it seems that for approximately every two stars in the galaxy, there is one possible planet,

"So far", "it seems", "possible". (sigh). Don't you just love the hard and fast concreteness of science. Oops. I mean, "science".

[starlifter]

Oh? do tell...

[KevinDavis]

So???

[Cementjungle]

Where might extraterrestrials live? The first step is figuring out what other planets out there have conditions like our own.

It always bugs me that they always assume that a planet has to be "like our own" to support life. If one is to assume that we evolved to thrive in the conditions that we have here, then one needs to assume that some other lifeform could just as easily evolve to thrive in any sort of conditions.

That said, I think we're the only ones around. If we did evolve out of random conditions, then there should be nearly an infinite number of other places where the same thing happened... and surely we would have found some evidence of that somewhere by now.

[Texas Eagle]

So???

So, how much money does NASA want?

Or, better put, how much of my grandchildren's and yet-to-be-born great-grandchildren's money does NASA want?

[cripplecreek]

We may be the only civilization.

In my opinion finding alien intelligence is actually a bad thing. Better to find a planet teeming with life no smarter than a chicken. We need to find life we can eat, air we can breathe, and water we can drink.

[Big Bronson]

"So far", "it seems", "possible". (sigh). Don't you just love the hard and fast concreteness of science. Oops. I mean, "science".

Planets have been detected around other stars. Whether every other star has a rocky ball orbiting it in the life-comfort zone is conjectural, but it's not an illogical conjecture.

It is far more logical than the "science" offered up by the "Jesus rode a dinosaur" types.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks KevinDavis.

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[KevinDavis]

or we spread life throughout the universe and modify the human race to survive on different planets that is not like Earth.

[muir_redwoods]

I've learned to remember that science articles are generally comprised of the words of science reporters, not of the scientists themselves. I see nowhere in the article a scientist declaring himself the be "pleasently surprised"

It looks like spin from a reporter.