ARE WE ALONE IN THE UNIVERSE?

The Milky Way Galaxy

Is there life only on Earth and nowhere else? 

This question appears to have been convincingly answered by Berkeley astronomers recently when they analyzed data from the Kepler Space Telescope. 

The Kepler Space Telescope was launched in 2009 and is currently orbiting the sun. Over the last 4 years, it took half-hourly photographs of 150,000 stars in our Milky Way galaxy.  From this data, the astronomers noted that about one in five stars may have a planet that is neither too hot nor too cold, but just right, with the potential for life.  This is in the so-called Goldilocks Zone. 

This suggests that our galaxy has not just one planet (Earth) with life, but there are about 40 billion such planets! Of those 40 billion planets, 11 billion of them actually orbit stars similar to our sun.

If that is the number in our galaxy alone, the amount of planetary life in this Universe must be incalculable!

In fact, the closest Earth-sized and Earth-like planet has been estimated to be only 12 light years away! I shall call this sister planet of ours, "Earthalee"! Wow, in the vastness of the Universe, Earth and Earthalee are like two little girls walking hand-in-hand, giggling in wonder at this huge cosmic crowd, full of noise and action!

It's a momentous occasion to celebrate, for we have never been alone after all!