Science & Reason on Facebook: tinyurl.com Exoplanet Exploration: NASA PlanetQuest Historic Timeline The NASA interactive multimedia timeline traces the search for extrasolar planets, from ancient philosophical speculation to modern discoveries. — Please subscribe to Science & Reason: • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com • www.youtube.com — Exoplanet Exploration: Planet Quest Key Milestones • 450 BC: Greeks ponder the existence of other worlds • 1750: Wright describes the Milky Way as a massive disk of stars • 1992: Woszczan and Frail discover rocky planets • 1995: Mayor and Queloz find a planet at 51 Pegasi • 1999: First transiting exoplanet observed • 2005: Spitzer observed direct light from an exoplanet • 2008: First visible-light exoplanet images released — Are we alone? Searching for Earthlike Worlds For centuries, human beings have pondered this question. Medieval scholars speculated that other worlds must exist and that some would harbor other forms of life. In our time, advances in science and technology have brought us to the threshold of finding an answer to this timeless question. The recent discovery of numerous planets around stars other than the sun confirms that our solar system is not unique. Indeed, these “exoplanets” appear to be common in our galactic neighborhood. The exoplanets we have discovered so far are giants, like Jupiter and Saturn. They are unlikely to support life as we know it. But some of these planetary systems might …