Are We Alone In The Universe (1 of 22)

Are We Alone In The Universe

Why do we humans have such a connection to the night sky?
The twinkling lights that seem like oases out there and yet we're not sure.
Are there habitable worlds?
Around the world there are a group of highly intelligent, highly trained scientists that share a surprising belief.
There are a couple of hundred billion stars just in our galaxy and at least half of them probably have planets.
That's 100 billion planetary systems.
How many planets in each system?
let's say five.
That's a half trillion, 500 billion planets out there.
Keep in mind, there are 100 billion other galaxies!

For these scientists the vastness of our universe can mean just one thing - the existence of life.
So to think, "Look, man.
This is the only place where anything interesting's happening", you've gotta be really audacious to take that point of view.
But proving it has not been quite so simple.
I have conducted many, many searches, none of which have produced a discovery.
Until now.
In our local neighbourhood, just 200 trillion kilometres from Earth, is a planet that we might find rather familiar.
The discovery of Gliese 581c is a marvellous discovery.
It shows how close we're getting to planets that remind us of the Earth.
Occasionally you're sitting on a plane and they guy next to you says, "What do you do for a living?".
"I look for aliens".
I explain a little bit, and almost every one everyone is interested.
Nobody says, "That's nice.
I'll go back to my magazine now".