By Charles Doud
The Madera Tribune

Scientists are getting ready to send the $520 million Kepler telescope into outer space to look for planets nobody can see — planets which might support life. These extrasolar planets, as they are called (they have signs on them that say that — “extrasolar planet for sale; inquire within”) so far seem to be gas giants. I had a burrito the other day like that, but enough about food.

Gas giants are like Jupiter. If they support life, it isn’t anything like we have on Earth. You might wonder why we keep looking. I think it is because astronomers need something to do.

Johannes Kepler, after whom the telescope was named, was a German mathematician and astronomer who also was deeply religious. He was sure God had created the world as part of a plan for people, a plan which could be figured out if you applied enough reason. We keep trying.

One of the people in charge of the Kepler telescope program said the Kepler would find things never before seen, and would have a good chance of finding a planet similar to Earth. He was quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, however, as saying if such a planet isn’t found, “There won’t be any ‘Star Trek’.”

Which is probably why we are throwing money into outer space in the first place. We like “Star Trek” and other science fiction so much that we want it to be true. The reality of space exploration, though, has shown it to be dangerous, expensive and disappointing — not unlike your typical federal bailout so far — although certainly very interesting.

One point of view, however, is that Earth, itself, is an extrasolar planet that has been discovered by folks from another solar system and is being used as a sort of prison colony to keep earthlings from wrecking the rest of the universe. What if the telescope tells us that? I’m not sure I’d be all that surprised.

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