Alien life

Some weeks ago water vapor was found on HD209458b ^WP, an extrasolar planet some 150 light years away. Just yesterday Gliese 581 c^{WP, E} was discovered. With a radius only 50% bigger than that of Earth and within the “habitable zone” ^WP — “the region surrounding a star where water would be liquid” — of its star, it is the best candidate so far for extraterrestrial life.

The perennial wild card of the discovery of alien life looks ever closer and I’m teetering already — with excitement, with fear, with awe.