Statistically impossible that there is not life on other planets

—worlds outside our solar system—are everywhere.

Already, astronomers have discovered thousands. As of New Year’s Day 2018, NASA has confirmed the existence of 3,572 exoplanets, with 5,078 more awaiting final verification.

But scientists say they've barely begun. And the number of exoworlds they estimate is astounding.

"There are hundreds of billions of planets in the Milky Way galaxy," says Jean-Luc Margot, professor and chair of UCLA’s Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences department.

To put that in perspective: imagine counting them all, at the rate of one per second. That task, says Margot, would take "about 3,000 years" to finish.

So, why have we not seem them - perhaps it is because the distances are so vast.



Exoplanet GJ 504b, 57 light-years away, in the constellation Virgo.CREDIT: NASA'S GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER / S. WIESSINGER