We may very well not be alone in our galaxy. While most people concieve that there is life elsewhere in the universe, it is almost surreal to know that not only is it true but that life may not be that far from Earth, astronmically speaking.

A little more than 20.5 light years away exists a planet that is very much like Earth, has its own star and a solid, rocky surface. It may very well be able to sustain life. The international team of Swiss, Portuguese and French researchers who discovered the planet in 2007 found it orbiting around diminutive red dwarf star, named Gliese 581, which is located in the constellation Libra. It is about 1.5 times larger than Earth, five times heavier and has a hard surface that is most likely rock. Its sun is smaller, less luminous and colder than our Sun, but the planet is 14 times closer to its sun than Earth is to our sun; yet, the exoplanet is in its sun’s habitable zone which is the zone around a star where water can be liquid — the essence of life.

Scientists do not know if this planet has water, rivers, lake streams, mountains or other Earth-like features, but they know that the planet’s location is ideal to support such features and life. Other such planets have been discovered, most using gravitational data and light refraction techniques, but this one is the most “Earth-like” so far. The firsr such exo-planet was discovered in 1995.

Humans are a planetary species. Therefore, other habitable planets must also be able to sustain living species much like humans. As we develop the capability to more directly observe these exo-planets (planets outside of our solar system), we will come closer to elarning more about the existence of life elsewhere in the universe, and possible one day have the capability to see how they live and what their living conditions are.