Kepler-452b

I am sure most of you have heard about NASA’s big announcement today. If not, I will summarize. Basically they found a planet about 1400 light years away that is rocky, in the habitable zone, and revolves a star similar to our own. Many are calling this Earth’s cousin or Earth-2. Here is an artist rendering…

452b_artistconcept_comparisonwithearthBefore everyone gets excited about moving there, allow me to remind you that it is 1400 light years away. That is about 8,230,075,522,457,050 miles. If you were traveling along in a car at say 75 MPH, that would take 12,518,444,447 or you know, almost the entire time the universe has been around. Now I know what you are saying. Obviously we have space shuttles or rockets that go much faster. The New Horizons probe traveled about 35,000 MPH, which would take about 26,825,238 years, which I guess is a little better (my apologies if any of my quick math is wrong).

So what if the alien race living there, the Keplarians, developed some kind of hyperspeed drive that allows them to travel at the speed of light…it would still take 1400 years to get here. They would have had to leave their planet while the Anglo-Saxons were massacring Christians near the Irish Sea. Hell, Muhammad was still alive and spreading his religion across the globe when the Keplarians were taking off.

Sorry about the little side tangent.

Anyways, this discovery has me excited. I truly believe that in my lifetime (and yes I realize people have been saying this for hundreds of years) we will find life elsewhere in the universe.

Author: Ngewo