Is anybody out there?

Something you may not know about me.

I find the possibility of “alien” life fascinating.

Hang on! Don’t hang up on me. Let me explain.

Many people would go “oh geez not alien crap…” but I don’t mean in an E.T kind of way. Really just finding a planet that could sustain life would be amazing.

They’ve found one that they think is in the right spot by its star to have the conditions for life. It’s astounding to think about! The planet Gilese 581 C is at the right distance from its star to have the right conditions. It may be at the right temperature for liquid water, which is a biggie for the whole life thing to work out.

Gilese 581 C is the first planet we’ve found in that right spot so far. So counting us that makes two. Doesn’t sound good, but if you think about it just us with our wee technology being able to find something must mean that there are plenty more out there. Personally I think considering all the galaxies out there and such, there HAS to be at least some planets that can have some form of life. Intelligent would be cool, but that might be asking for too much.

Right now travel to any of the planets we might find is looking pretty impossible. I mean we don’t even have the means to know what the planet we’ve “found” even looks like. The way they figure out the distance from its star has to do with math and stuff. (I know I have very fancy lingo) It’s not like we have a pretty little photo.

I really don’t think much in the ways of alien discovery will be made in my lifetime. I’m not expecting any visitors to say. But still, keeping up on the baby steps we make can be very exciting.

I try to remain optimistic about our species not blowing itself up before we get to the point were we have the technology to really figure out this “alien life” business. We probably will though. We’re pretty good at blowing stuff up.