We are one step closer to finding aliens

sdecoret /iStock Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free _Mother Jones Daily_. Earthlings are one step closer to confirming that

they’re not the only living things in the universe. An international group of scientists announced Wednesday that they’ve been observing seven Earth-sized planets orbiting a dwarf star named

Trappist-1. The discovery, according to the _New York Times_,_ _is the “first realistic opportunity to search for biological signs of alien life outside of the solar system.” The star is

about 235 trillion miles from Earth, or about 40 light years. The planets happen to be oriented in such a way to allow them to be “studied in great detail,” the _Times _notes. “This is the

first time so many planets of this kind are found around the same star,” Michael Gillon, an astronomer at the University of Liege in Belgium and the leader of the team of scientists, said

Wednesday. Another astronomer from the group, Amy H.M.J. Triaud, from the University of Cambridge in England, said the findings mark a “crucial step toward finding if there is life out

there.” By studying the atmospheres of the planets, scientists will be able to look for signs of biological life. Sara Seagar, an astronomer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who

is not a part of the team that made the discovery, told the _Times _that these planets make the “search for life in the galaxy imminent,” adding that for “the first time ever, we don’t have

to speculate. We just have to wait and then make very careful observations and see what is in the atmospheres of the Trappist planets.” Of course, there are those who believe that life from

other planets not only exists but has visited Earth at some point in the past. Many governments around the world, including the US government, have studied the issue for decades. As recently

as January 5, the Chilean Navy released video shot from a Navy helicopter in 2014 showing a flying object that military and civilian experts could not identify, as reported by journalist

Leslie Kean. Perhaps one of the planets would be a candidate for a “planet b,” a concept explored by the Climate Desk’s James West in 2015: [embedded content]