Other Worlds
Astronomers keep discovering undiscovered planets: “NASA . . . announced a torrent of new planet discoveries, hailing a ‘bonanza“‘of 715 worlds now known outside the solar system thanks to the Kepler space telescope’s planet-hunting mission. A new method for verifying potential planets led to the volume of new discoveries from Kepler, which aims to help humans search for other worlds that may be like Earth.”
The newly discovered planets are in orbit around over 300 stars. The total number of known planets has risen to 1700.
It’s a big world out there, getting bigger all the time. The cozy little cosmos of ancient and medieval astronomy is long gone, and the imaginative effort needed to think ourselves back into that world just got a lot more difficult.
Peter Leithart
Peter J. Leithart is President of Theopolis Institute. He is the author of numerous books on theology, literature, and culture, including Theopolitan, Defending Constantine, and Baptized Body.
In Medias Res
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