Skip to comments.NASA Scientists gather in Santa Clara to ponder
life beyond Earth (SETIcon) Posted on 06/23/2012 8:13:17 PM PDT
by NormsRevenge We may not be alone. But our cosmic companions
might be moist creatures in watery worlds -- lacking, of course,
E.T.'s impulse, or ability, to phone home. The growing evidence
of wet planets -- and its implications in our search for
extraterrestrial life -- is among the marvels shared this
weekend at a Santa Clara gathering of astronomers, astronauts
and science fiction fans. The theme of the three-day SETIcon
event: the exploration of universe and the quest to find life
beyond Earth. Scientists agreed that the neighborhood is looking
a lot friendlier. What began as a trickle of new planet
discoveries a decade ago has turned into a torrent -- and not
all places are rocky, gaseous or just plain weird. Of the 3,000
or so candidate planets found so far by Kepler -- a NASA mission
designed to find Earth-size planets around other stars --
several hundred of them share one