Once only science fiction, astronomers are now finding
hundreds of planetary systems beyond our own. Given recent discoveries through
space exploration, it is entirely feasible that we may soon discover the
existence of extra-terrestrial life forms on other planets.
The idea of extra-terrestrial life forms fascinates some and
terrifies others. And even though our search for ET never quite panned out, we
never stopped looking.
However, could this all be about to change following the
discovery of hundreds of exoplanets (planets outside our Solar System), and
thousands of candidate exoplanetary systems, some of which might be habitable
for life.