40 light years away sits a system with at least seven Earth-sized planets sitting in the "habitable zone" from their sun. In the past couple days, I've read through several articles about this discovery. None of them really give much more information than the above, but all of them have sparked my imagination.
One reason for this might be that I'm currently in the process of rereading (for I'm not sure how many times) the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey, a sci-fi concept of people who have built a new kind of culture on a colonized world. Actually, I'm even nearing the end of the book Dragonsdawn which tells the story of the first colonists who land on Pern with the hope of creating a new society for themselves before they are attacked by the terror that visits the world almost every 250 years. I suppose my thoughts about exploring and colonizing planets beyond our solar system is a natural extension of such news and entertainment.
I believe that humanity is destined to make its way into the stars: "To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before." I feel this with a passion that thrums throughout my very being.
Granted, I want it to be in the comfortable Star Trek way. On a ship that has the comforts of the futuristic society with replicators and advanced medicines. More likely, our attempts to explore our galaxy will be significantly ... more uncomfortable. I suppose that I would like to see those worlds when a more tried and true method of doing so was available. My sense of adventure only goes so far ...
I had hoped that the imaginings of much of the science fiction that I loved would be a reality in my lifetime. Watching the dismantling of our nation's space program has been, for me, one of the most painful parts of the past few decades. We need to go out there.
One reason for this might be that I'm currently in the process of rereading (for I'm not sure how many times) the Dragonriders of Pern series by Anne McCaffrey, a sci-fi concept of people who have built a new kind of culture on a colonized world. Actually, I'm even nearing the end of the book Dragonsdawn which tells the story of the first colonists who land on Pern with the hope of creating a new society for themselves before they are attacked by the terror that visits the world almost every 250 years. I suppose my thoughts about exploring and colonizing planets beyond our solar system is a natural extension of such news and entertainment.
I believe that humanity is destined to make its way into the stars: "To explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before." I feel this with a passion that thrums throughout my very being.
Granted, I want it to be in the comfortable Star Trek way. On a ship that has the comforts of the futuristic society with replicators and advanced medicines. More likely, our attempts to explore our galaxy will be significantly ... more uncomfortable. I suppose that I would like to see those worlds when a more tried and true method of doing so was available. My sense of adventure only goes so far ...
I had hoped that the imaginings of much of the science fiction that I loved would be a reality in my lifetime. Watching the dismantling of our nation's space program has been, for me, one of the most painful parts of the past few decades. We need to go out there.
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