Kepler Space Telescope looks for Earth-like planets, and life

William Atkins
Thursday, 05 February 2009 20:26

Science - Space

As of February 2009, 339 exoplanets are listed as having been discovered in space. They are listed on the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopedia, which was created by Jean Scheider in Paris, France, in February 1995.

So, why don’t we think up some more serious names for extraterrestrials other than our current names such as ETs, space aliens, or little green men?

To go along with the naming of distant planets (extrasolar planets, or exoplanets), what about naming these eventually-to-be-discovered aliens something more serious like:

Extrasolar Life (Exolife)

Extrasolar Intelligence (Exointelligence)

Do you have other such names that can be used to seriously name extraterrestrial life?

Maybe even extraterrestrial life would be acceptable, if we would only remove the abbreviation ET, possibly making the acronym to be ETL.

After Copernicus removed the Earth as the center of the Universe, we have discovered that Earth is just one of a huge number (possibly even infinite number) of objects in the Universe.

However, with our technology and our curiosity to discover more about who we are and how we relate to the Universe, humans may one day find themselves no longer alone in the Universe.

We may one day find neighbors that would like to communicate with us and share with us their knowledge and technologies. Conversely, we would share our knowledge with them.

So, until that day, let us salute the Kepler Space Telescope, which is leading the way to finding planets out there in the Universe, and possibly intelligent life, too.