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NASA Discovered 7 New Earth-Like Planets And The Internet Has A Few Concerns

by Alexandra Svokos
REUTERS

NASA made a big announcement on Wednesday: It found some planets.

The announcement certainly lived up to the high expectations, as rumors were swirling it would be about aliens... or life-threatening comets.

Instead, we now have new possibilities.

NASA announced it had discovered seven new planets.

Three are in a "habitable zone" -- meaning three are in the right space near a star to potentially have what you need to sustain life -- namely, liquid water.

This set a record for a NASA discovery with the most habitable-zone planets around a single star outside our solar system.

Oh yeah, and here's the other thing:

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Don't get too excited about jetting over there quite yet. You might be thinking, "OMG, cool! Let's go live there since we've messed this one up with pollution and stupidity!"

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But, well, the newly discovered planets are still super far away. They're about 235 trillion miles (40 light-years) outside of our solar system.

Now, I know what you're going to ask next.

Seriously, I know where this is going.

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You want to know if there are aliens up there, right? I know I'm wondering it. And lots of folks are thinking the same.

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And the answer is... well... I'm not really sure, but the NASA people are HYPED.

Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, said in a press release,

This discovery could be a significant piece in the puzzle of finding habitable environments, places that are conducive to life. Answering the question 'are we alone' is a top science priority and finding so many planets like these for the first time in the habitable zone is a remarkable step forward toward that goal.

That's the kinda quote that makes you say "ho-ly shiiiiiit fam, we're not alone, maybe!"

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But in all seriousness, this is a really neat, groundbreaking discovery. Space is amazing. Yay NASA!

Citations: NASA Just Discovered 7 New Earth-Like Planets (Teen Vogue)