Apr 22, 2009

Earth-size Planet Found

From Dennis Overbye in the NYT:

Astronomers said the discovery was more encouragement that the galaxy was full of small-mass planets and that with more time and improved instruments like the Kepler satellite, recently launched by NASA, they would eventually find Earth-like planets in orbits suitable for life around other stars.

'Finding Earth-like planets with lukewarm temperatures is the next great goal,' Geoff Marcy, of the University of California, Berkeley, a planet-hunting rival of Dr. Mayor’s, said in an e-mail message.

Those crazy scientists. Don't they know god only made one earth, plucking all life onto it 7,000 years ago? Doesn't this seem a tad blasphemous to be looking for earth-like planets that might harbor life?

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