Planet, planets everywhere

One of the great unknowns in wondering if we are alone in the vastness of the galaxy and universe was (!) how many planets there are.  Now it seems that if you're a star and you don't have at least one planet, you're probably in the minority.  Planets of all sizes are popping up in all sorts of orbits, some of them in the essentially right place for life to be quite possible.

So now, in our cosmic backyard (about 12 light years away), comes the putative discovery of a planet in that star's habitable zone.   It's not like we're going to get there soon to check, but it's remarkable to me that now we have evidence of one of the basic needs of life elsewhere in the Universe that close by.    I doubt I will live long enough for there to be definitive proof that We are Not Alone, but I think it likely that before I die there will be sufficient evidence for scientists to be able to state with strong conviction We are Probably Not Unique in the Vast Cosmos.

News in brief:  possible planet looks habitable

The star is Tau Ceti, by the way.  What's really neat about that is that Tau Ceti has been used in several science fiction stories, notably L. Sprague de Camp's Viagens series and Asimov's The Caves of Steel.  I'm sure this news would make them smile if they were with us now.  (And, speaking lasciviously, the Krishnans, who lived on one of the Tau Ceti planets, where oviparous mammals who could mate with humans, even though they couldn't have offspring.   Shades of John Carter and Dejah Thoris.)

Tau Ceti in fiction (Wikipedia)

And what's even more neat is that de Camp had three inhabited planets in the Tau Ceti system, and the astronomers think it has five, even though only one is in the potential habitable zone.  Can't have everything.