Thirty Two New Planets Discovered

European astronomers have announced they have found 32 new planets orbiting stars outside our solar system and said, on Monday, they believe their find means that 40 percent or more of Sun-like stars have such planets.

The planets range in size from about five times the size of Earth to about five times the size of Jupiter. More have been discovered, too, they said, promising more announcements later this year. The latest discoveries bring the total of known exoplanets to about 400, said Stephane Udry of the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland.
"Nature doesn't like a vacuum so if there is space to put a planet it will put a planet there," Udry told reporters in a briefing from a meeting of astronomers in Porto, Portugal.
"More than 40 percent of stars like the sun have low mass planets," Udry added.
The team used the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planet Searcher or HARPS, a spectrograph attached to the European Southern Observatory's 3.6-meter (11.8-foot) telescope in La Silla, Chile.

Astronomers are keen to find Earthlike planets as these are the most likely to harbor life. HARPS has spotted 75 planets circling 30 different stars. The ESO team did not give details of which stars the 32 new planets were circling.

Every day we get closer to discovering an earth-like planet. It's exciting. I'll gladly go for a visit. Will you? Think about that. Are you adventurous? An explorer at heart? By the time we have finished destroying this planet you may not have a choice. We may all have to leave. What if there is some form of life on this new planet ? Will that frighten you away?If the conditions on the planet closely resemble earth, it is reasonable to think there may indeed be life. Does the whole prospect scare you, shake up your belief system? Did you think we were all alone in this vast universe?
They are setting up a space station on the moon in the near future ( if they find enough water up there). From there they will be able to see enormous distances. The search for a new Earth is on folks. Get ready to meet our neighbors.