Wow!

It's not often I am intrigued by Science-centered news, but the story I read last night positively blew me away!

Yahoo reports:

For the first time astronomers have discovered a planet outside our solar system that is potentially habitable, with Earth-like temperatures, a find researchers described Tuesday as a big step in the search for "life in the universe."

Wow! That seems so *huge* to me! I want to know more! It seems exciting and huge and full of possibility.

(And then the part of me that is cynical and curmudgeonly is happy it is so far as to make it difficult for us to get there so we can screw up that planet as soon as we finish trashing this one...)

The caption printed with the photo reads, "This artistic illustration released by the European Southern Observatory on Tuesday, April 24, 2007, shows planets orbiting the red dwarf star, Gliese 581. Astronomers believe that the newly discovered planet Gliese 581 c, left, is potentially habitable. "

Way cool.