Interesting story from Irtiqa, which ” target=”_blank” title=”discovery of new planets”>discovery of new planets by NASA’s Kepler mission, which has detected 1,235 candidate planets:
Out of these, 68 are the size of the Earth! Wait. This is not all. Astronomers usually get more excited to find planets orbiting in the habitable zone of the star. This is the distance at which water can stay in liquid form. For our Solar system, Earth and Mars are in the habitable zone (though Mars is right at the edge). We think if there is liquid water, then there is a good chance there is life there as well.
Well, Kepler has found 54 candidates in the habitable zone – and 5 of these are close to the size of the Earth.
That, of course, raises the issue about whether there could be not just biological life on another planet, but life like we have on Earth. Which for a religion blogger then raises the question about what sort of religious implications such extraterrestrial would have. Here’s a snippet from an old story I wrote for The Sun, excerpted in the “” target=”_blank” title=”cartoon suggests otherwise”>cartoon suggests otherwise.
I’m not sure which I agree with. I tend to think that the discovery of aliens would prove very problematic for religions that see a connection between humans, God and heaven (i.e. the Abrahamic faiths). That being said, I have to believe that we just won’t discover that kind of alien life.
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