Exoplanets – The Reality

The last twenty years have been interesting ones for those who had been waiting (and waiting) for planets outside of our solar system to be discovered.  All told over seven hundred of them have been revealed to us because of our scientific advances.  Some of them, even, seem to have water and you know what the presence of water may well mean.

Yet the distances between these new planets and our own pale blue dot are vast. The fact that these planets exist is now well established – what is not is how and when we will get to them.  Contributing Art Director at Scientific American magazine Edward Bell (who also recently published the book/app Journey to the Exoplanets) here poses these questions in his latest piece using NASA animation and Ron Miller’s wonderful art. He also elucidates on possible solutions.