To date, more than 5,000 exoplanets have been discovered and are considered “confirmed” out of the billions in our galaxy alone. There are thousands of other “candidate” exoplanet detections that require further observations in order to say for sure whether or not the exoplanet is real. This according to the NASA website.

The vast majority of these detected planets are gas giants that orbit their star rather closely. It seems like our own solar system, with the far out gas and ice giants is an oddball. People are always disappointed when we do not find an earth-like planet, in the right place.

But cheer up sunshine! There is hope! Our own gas giant, Saturn hosts numerous moons, at least two of which may be the likeliest place that we might someday find life. It stands to reason, that many of the gas giants orbiting close to their star may have moons that are PERFECT for life to develop. They are close to their sun, and are also protected by their huge gas giant’s magnetic field, as Saturn protects it’s own moons. So these gas giants may have moons that are actually a much more stable place for life to develop than our Earth!

Food for thought and dreams. 🙂