A giant has left us today. Stephen Hawking, the astrophysicist who made the universe so much more understandable for many of us, passed away today at age 76.
I read his bestselling book, A Brief History Of Time, back when it first came out, and it really helped to illuminate the way for me concerning science and the cosmos. I don't claim to be anywhere near as knowledgeable as he was, but Hawking made it easier for me to understand some pretty big concepts. RIP, sir.
This is exciting news. Seven new planets have been discovered by NASA in a solar system that's less than forty light years from us. These are earth-like planets, in that they may support life. And a couple of them look like they might have oceans.
In 2018 a new satellite will be launched that will give us more details about what's on these worlds. What's amazing to me is how we're exploring the universe without even leaving the Earth. No need to send spaceships just yet when we can have satellites do the path finding for us.
Of course, it would be great to send people out to these worlds eventually (as well as colonize our solar system). We're living in a very exciting time, sort of the dawn of a new age of deep space exploration. I can't wait to see more.
