Scientists may be very close to discovering if there’s life somewhere else in the universe.
Astronomers have discovered a “super-Earth” with the potential to support life just 31 light years away. The planet, named GJ 357 d, is six times the size of ours and orbits a dwarf star every 56 days. But it’s the right distance away from its star to maintain an atmosphere — not too hot or too cold.
Lisa Kaltenegger, the director of the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University in New York, says that telescopes coming online soon will be able to detect signs of life on the planet. (USA Today)
Hot Takes:
- Now that the aliens know we’ve seen them, they’re going to attack.
- We’re still talking close to 200 trillion miles away. Even if there is life, we won’t be able to visit in our grandkids’ grandkids’ lifetimes.
- A “planet-hunting” satellite actually discovered another planet orbiting this star earlier this year. Then scientists saw this one during follow-up observations.