Race to find another planet like Earth in the galaxy gains breath

I’ve always been a little blown away by the fact that we humans really are made of star matter. This week, an element found in our teeth was detected for the first time in a galaxy 12 billion light years away.

This means that during the early chaotic days of the universe, stars were exploding and releasing key elements from their core into space. These elements would then end up on Earth and inside our bodies.

Space may seem cold, dark and strange, but it’s not as far away from us as we might think.

Astronauts even organized a taco party on the International Space Station last week to celebrate and eat the first peppers grown in space.

If our future really is out there, at least we’ll have a way to spice up our food. And maybe space isn’t so weird after all.

through the universe

It’s time to find other planets like Earth and understand if we really are alone in the universe.

That’s the consensus of the long-awaited Astro2020 Decennial Survey, published this week, which acts as a roadmap for agencies like NASA in planning their missions.

Over the next decade, scientists’ focus should be on unlocking the secrets of the universe and identifying Earth-like planets outside the solar system to find other habitable worlds.

There are more than 4,000 known planets across the galaxy, including the intriguing Earth-sized planets of the Trappist system. But astronomers need more information to find real signs that they are habitable and have life.