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To most common terrestrial dwellers, there's no place like Earth. But new simulations show that many Earth-like planets might exist outside of our solar system. Through computer simulations scientists examined the formation and evolution of giant planet systems recently detected outside the Earth's solar system. Their results revealed that more than a third of them might contain planets that could potentially support life and could even be covered with deep oceans. The study focuses on a type of planetary system unlike our solar system that contains gas giants known as "hot Jupiters" orbiting extremely close to their parent stars—even closer...

NEWS ADVISORY, June 20 /Christian Newswire/-- Britain’s renowned astrophysicist Stephen Hawking told a recent Hong Kong news conference the human race must “spread out into space for the survival of the species.“ He cited “sudden global warming, nuclear war, or a genetically engineered virus” as threats that could wipe out humanity at any time. “As dire as Hawking’s concerns may be, humanity’s plight is actually worse,” says astronomer Hugh Ross, founder and president of the science/faith think tank Reasons To Believe (www.reasons.org). “But,” he adds, “that is not to say the human race is without hope.”  Ross explains, “It’s important to...

Scientists Confirm Earth-Like Planet Orbiting Nearby Star  by John C. Snider  Researchers at the University of Toronto announced that they have photographic evidence of an Earth-like planet orbiting Kapteyn's Star, a red dwarf only 12.8 light-years away.  The images posted to the UTC website show two views of a deeply cratered, apparently airless world approximately 34,000 kilometers (21,000 miles) in diameter.  (Earth is 7,926 miles in diameter.)  Scientists have nicknamed the planet "Mickey," although its official designation for the time being is UTC-27745-3665. "By 'Earth-like' what we mean is that it's a rocky planet - not a gas giant, which...

Scientists have discovered a planet more like Earth than any other found before, they said on Wednesday. It's 20,000 light-years away, just shy of the center of the Milky Way. The discovery, which the scientists called "groundbreaking," was made using a technique noted in 1912 by Albert Einstein through a network of telescopes positioned around the globe. The planet takes the nondescript name "OGLE-2005-BLG-390" after one such telescope, named OGLE, for Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. OGLE, based in Poland's Warsaw University Observatory, was first used to spot the object on July 11, 2005. "This planet is actually the first and...

Are we alone in the universe? Are there planets like Earth around other "suns" that might harbor life? Thanks to a recent technology breakthrough on a key NASA planet-finding project, the dream of answering those questions is no longer light-years away. On a crystal clear, star-filled night at Hawaii's Keck Observatory in Mauna Kea, NASA engineers successfully suppressed the blinding light of three stars, including the well-known Vega, by 100 times. This breakthrough will enable scientists to detect the dim dust disks around stars, where planets might be forming. Normally the disks are obscured by the glare of the starlight....