Having focused on the future of planet Earth yesterday, I thought this story provided a nice contrast and complement. Though it is a bit 'out there'! Apparently, a new planet has been discovered in the constellation Cancer. Why is this significant? Well, this the first quintuple planetary system to be detected in outer space, and it appears that the planet in question - or others in its orbit - may yet demonstrate the conditions that could sustain liquid water... and therefore life as we know it. 
I find such stories humbling, with respect to our own role in the universe. But yet, on the other hand, the fact that scientists are able to discover such things is pretty amazing - and underscores the potential of humankind. What will we discover next, I wonder...?
(Picture courtesy of Scientific American.)
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Day Twenty-Six: somewhere out there...
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Yes, you don’t need to do much star gazing to put humanity into context. It is hopeful, tho’, that there are possibly life-friendly environments out there (for that’s where – in the long run – humanity will end up, if it is to endure). I remember one of those rare epiphanic television moments, it must be 30 years ago, with Carl Sagan throwing up a handful of sand and describing 100 billion galaxies and 10 billion trillion stars.
“Who are we? We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.”
Anyway, if it is going to finish with a Wellsian Time Machine conclusion, let’s hope technology has got us up and out of here. I’ll hold on to the hope, and give the last words to Carl: “Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.”
Interesting that man-kind is continually looking outwardly in geographical terms when we should in therory all prioritise a more introspective shift to improve our lot. Perspective needs to change and perhaps connecting to another planet and perhaps life-fomrs will provide a more healthy perspective for us all...
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