So just a few days ago, I read on the front page of the ST about the mystic discovery of a new planet called "Super Earth" (the name sounds really dumb, don't you think?) outside the Solar System. Astronomers claimed that it's an Earth-like planet orbiting a star, Gliese 581 (which is believed to be the planet's Sun), about 20.5 light years away with the mean temperature that lies between 0 and 40 Degrees Celsius, which lies in the so-called "Goldilocks Zone" where conditions are 'just right' to allow the existence of liquid water and ingredients for life. The exact length of the light-year is based on a reference year of exactly 365.25 days (each of exactly 24 standard hours). And one light-year is roughly 63,240AU (One AU is the distance between the Earth and Sun, which is approx. 149 598 000km). So imagine making your way to this planet covering a boundless distance of (20.5 X 63,240 X 149,598,000 km)! Thus, if I were to be an astronaut and fly to that planet, I'd be 40 YO by the time I land on its soil (given that the journey's incident-free) and thinking of that, I might as well dig myself and my colleagues our graves be'cos it won't be another 20 years before we return to Earth again, or NEVER!

You know, this kind of stuff excites me, but at the same time, seems intriguing as well. In the past, our ancestors came to this place they knew so little about, (or did they even know they're living on something in existence called "Earth"?), and not to mention, as time went by, humans didn't really look as far beyond as to what they can see. These days, space seems like a real place, although of course we can only really think about it, look with the aid of scientific means but not touch. I understand the eagerness of those Astronomers comes from the idea of being able to go somewhere new and create something from scratch. But, have you thought of going somewhere new only to discover there isn't any need to create something from scratch already.

"Is there life anywhere else?' is a fundamental question we all ask." - Alison Boyle, the curator of astronomy at London's Science Museum

It may be strange to learn that if lives exist in the planet we're living in, why not the others? Come to think of it, I don't believe Earth would be the only place lives could be found, given that the galaxy out there seems endless and there may be so many other planets of such like Earth itself. On a stranger note, if humans, animals, plants, dinosaurs or living things of such could be created, I don't see how other species of life couldn't. (but to the exception that they don't exist on Earth.)

However, given the pro-advancement in technology, presumably the astronomers are going to run all sorts of tests and experiments and sciency-stuff to try and find out more about how likely it is that life exists on this planet.