The NASA Kepler project chief scientist William Borucki said, fifty-four possibilities is "an enormous amount, an inconceivable amount. It's amazing to see this huge number because up to now, we've had zero."
NASA scientists are quick to point out that, "just because a planet is in the habitable zone doesn't mean it has life. Mars is a good example of that. And even if some these planets are found to contain life, it may not be intelligent life; it could be bacteria or mold or some kind of life form people can't even imagine."
The Associated Press reports that Yale University astronomer Debra Fischer, who serves as an outside expert for NASA, said the new find "gives us a much firmer footing" to hope that distant planets could harbor life. "I feel different today, knowing these new Kepler results, than I did a week ago," Fischer said. She said Kepler "has blown the lid off of everything we know about extrasolar planets."
These planet finds are far away, and unreachable with today's earth technology. Tomorrow? Who knows? Next week? Maybe the distant planets are unreachable with earth man's technology, but we are not unreachable to them? Yes, THEM, ET's using their technology?
Item from the Associated Press -- "An orbiting NASA telescope is finding whole new worlds of possibilities in the search for alien life, spotting more than 50 potential planets that appear to be in the habitable zone." See the video.