Researchers are more sure than ever that extraterrestrials exist - whether they are microbes eking out a living on an icy planet or intelligent beings inhabiting a watery blue world 5,000 light-years away. "There must surely be other stars like our sun, and other planets like the Earth," said University of California at Berkeley planetary scientist Geoff Marcy during a recent planetary conference in Aspen. "Primitive life, at least, must be common in the universe."The planet hunters gathered in Aspen to celebrate the nearly 150 "extrasolar" planets found in the past 10 years, and to discuss new ways to search the skies.Many of the attendees at last week's conference were from Colorado, which has become a hub for planetary research. The University of Colorado, for example, is one of the leading universities in the country for research, and Ball Aerospace in Boulder built most of the science instruments used on the Hubble Telescope.The research has proved invaluable.Many of the planets that had been found were "hot Jupiters" - huge, gassy planets so close to their central stars that life seems unlikely.But in recent months, astronomers have improved their instruments to detect smaller worlds. They're finding planets that orbit far enough from their parent stars to make water - thought to be necessary for life - possible.Within a few decades, the researchers say, they may be able to detect the chemical signature of life in the atmosphere of an Earthlike planet Science-fiction writers predicted it decades ago, and now scientists are realizing it's probably true, said Bruce Jakosky, a planetary scientist at CU.
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