Hundreds of New Planets Found

More potential evidence that we may not be alone in the universe. Kepler telescope discovered 715 new planets beyond our solar system. So far, NASA has identified four of these planets as orbiting a hospital zone where water can keep a liquid state, according to the BBC.

According to this video from NASA, this find doubled the number of known planets. Doubled. We have now identified 1,700 planets outside of our solar system. “The more we explore, the more we find familiar traces of ourselves among the stars that remind us of home,” says Jason Rowe of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California, and co-leader of the research team.

This tremendous discovery obviously has some exciting implications. For one thing, as Stephen Hawking pointed out, as reported on Big Think, we need to start looking for another Earth and colonizing space if our species wants to survive. Kepler is essentially acting as our real-estate agent. What’s as exciting is that more finds like this one could lead us to our nearest sophisticated neighbors. Believe whatever you want about the existence of aliens, hauls like this one indicate that there’s just so much we don’t know about space, and so much possibility for life beyond Earth.

What do you think this latest discovery means for humankind? Tell us in the comments section. The BBC has more on Kepler’s planetary goldmine.