/sci/ - Science & Math

So after watching that Steven Hawking show on Channel 4 the other day (Britfag here). I was alerted to the existence of Gliese 581 C (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliese_581_c)), a huge (5-7 times bigger IIRC) Earth-like planet 20.5 Light Years from us. It was discovered back in 2007 and I'm sure you've all had your long discussions about it already. But then Steven Hawking went on to explain that it would take 130,000 Earth years to reach this planet with today's technology, and with theoretical future technology (in a few hundred years or something) we may be able to reach it within 76 years or so. Using a ship that runs on Atomic, or even Dark Matter energy.

Now, let's ignore everything Science Fiction related. No Star Wars, no Star Trek, no Mass Effect, no nothing. This is REAL.

The fact that this planet may (and probably does) harbor life is just truly amazing. There are possibly intelligent humanoids living 20.5 light years from us. Maybe they have discovered Earth already and are wondering the same about us? Then I thought about all the possibly hostile animals on this huge planet, we don't even truly know what lies at the deepest parts of our waters and I'm already wondering about THAT monster of a planet. It's crazy. Think of all the weird lifeforms that could live over there. And the scientists think that we should be colonizing it so the human race lives on after Earth gets enveloped by the Sun? What if we're not welcome there? What if the water there is not the right kind of water we need to survive?

Pic related, it's how I feel right now.