Is Earth the only living needle in this haystack of planets? SUBSCRIBE, it's FREE! http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓ More below ↓ We live in one of a hundred billion of galaxies, each with hundreds of billions of stars. And now, thanks to modern astronomy, we know that the Milky Way is home to perhaps a hundred billion planets! In the past two decades, these exoplanet discoveries have spawned new questions about our universe, and if there might be another Earth, or other life, somewhere out there. In part 1 of my two-part series on exoplanets, we'll look at how astronomers find exoplanets, and what it means to call them Earth-like. We'll trace the history of planetary science back three thousand years and examine Earth's changing status in the cosmos. We were once the center of the universe, and now Earth is just another rock in the sky. What does that mean for us? Check out "Five Billion Years of Solitude" by Lee Billings: http://amzn.to/18Tzv59 This week's t-shirt comes from Wowch: http://www.wowch.com/puppyplanet More reading: There are five billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/05/science/cosmic-census-finds-billions-of-planets-that-could-be-like-earth.html?_r=0 The exoplanet catalog: http://phl.upr.edu/projects/habitable-exoplanets-catalog Methods of detecting exoplanets: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methods_of_detecting_extrasolar_planets Interactive catalog of Kepler's exoplanet discoveries: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/science/space/keplers-tally-of-planets.html?ref=space A philosophical and historical look at the exoplanet revolution: http://www.aeonmagazine.com/nature-and-cosmos/the-real-meaning-of-the-exoplanet-revolution/ The Kepler telescope and the "adjacent possible": http://nautil.us/blog/clever-apes-a-busted-telescope--the-adjacent-possible How the Kepler telescope scanned the sky: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/post/62343351213/kepler-exoplanet-tally An ode to the late Kepler telescope: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/08/an-ode-to-kepler-the-planet-hunter/278738/ ----------------- Have an idea for an episode or an amazing science question you want answered? Leave a comment below! Tweet at me: @jtotheizzoe Email me: itsokaytobesmart AT gmail DOT com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart For more awesome science, check out: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Joe Hanson - Host and writer Joe Nicolosi - Director Amanda Fox - Producer Katie Graham - Director of Photography Andrew Matthews - Editor and Motion Graphics Kate Eads - Production Manager Filmed at Onion Creek Productions in Austin, TX Produced by PBS Digital Studios: http://www.youtube.com/user/pbsdigitalstudios ----------- Last week's video: Ghosts of Evolution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWW5OuxlKec More videos: Remembering Carl Sagan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ-WkDvC8EM How Big Is The Solar System? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mD-ia6ng0A Want even MORE? Monuments http://youtu.be/07K0vo-d1HA Animal Superpowers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e69yaWDkVGs Why Do Things Sound Scary? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JAym6-h4RE

• published: 02 Dec 2013
• views: 4187