Two is company, 500 million's a crowd

Image Credit: Artist's Concept/NASA/ESA/STScI

Our galaxy is home to more than 50 billion planets... and 500 million habitable ones

Perhaps no one knows if any UFO's have made a rural encounter. One thing's for certain, as we lift the curtain, we see plenty to give pause to the doubter. With so many stars in the sky, it's no surprise we ask why we seem to be alone in this system. Perhaps we're just knocking on the door to a shocking revelation that in truth, when it comes to ones of higher intelligence, despite our diligence, maybe due to relative youth, we've just missed 'em! The Milky Way's home to 300 billion stars, give or take. A rake turns up planets at an estimate of 50 billion. No leap of logic necessary to venture into friendly territory and find 500 million planets habitable to life. In a galaxy rife with such medium, it's fun to guess we're just one scientific test or telescopic view to peaking through space and finding a stellar neighbor. I doubt any drunk who claims "I done thunk it was aliens that probed me all night", but at least we can dream our neighbors might seem to be staring into the same starry night.