28 newfound planets in Milky Way spur hunt for Earth look-alikes

28 newfound planets in Milky Way spur hunt for Earth look-alikes
David Perlman, Chronicle Science Editor

Tuesday, May 29, 2007


All of a sudden the Milky Way is filling up with far-off solar systems never seen before -- more and more planets of all shapes and sizes, wheeling in orbits around their own sunlike stars.

Astronomers on teams from UC Berkeley and Australia reported the discovery of 28 new planets all at once on Monday, and their leader -- working through the night all this week at the world's biggest telescope in Hawaii -- is now on the hunt for rocky planets that might resemble Earth.

"An overarching question now is whether our own solar system is really alone," said Geoffrey Marcy, the Berkeley astronomer whose team has led in the discovery of what are now widely known as "exoplanets."

more...
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/05/29/MNG9CQ336T1.DTL

Is is truly possible we aren't alone? Well as is said in the movie Contact, if not it seems like an awful waste of space.

It always amazes me that people would think that with billions of planets out there we should be the only "intelligent" life out there. Plainsilly if you ask me. Think about the odds, even if it's a billion to one... then there is life in the universe.

And so do I.