Michael Davis wrote:

Cliff Smith wrote:

Here are some of my thoughts on the existence of alien life.

In assessing the probability of other advanced civilisations existing
elsewhere in the galaxy, it's important to maintain both a sense of
perspective and a firm grasp of the laws of physics and chemistry, at least
as far as they are currently understood.
So far, 115 planetary bodies with a mass less than 18x that of Jupiter have
been discovered orbiting Sun-like stars relatively (in astronomical terms)
close to our own. The search is ongoing, and detection techniques are being
constantly refined.

((({<snip>}))) 

The main problem is that the giant planets found to date would
make it impossible for Earth-like planets to exist at Earth-like
distances from the stars. It is beginning to look like our solar
system really is unusual in its layout of giant planets far away
from the star and small rocky planets close in. The planets being
discovered show just the opposite pattern.

There will be a quiz!

http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/03/pr0373.htm
Our solar system has a twin
By Leigh Dayton
July 4, 2003

"ASTRONOMERS are a step closer to finding a solar system that 
could support life - and it's just a hop, skip and jump from 
us in cosmic terms.

"They have discovered a giant gas planet like Jupiter in the 
constellation Puppis, just 90 light-years away. 

"What's more, the new planet has a circular orbit like Jupiter, 
sits a Jupiter-like distance from its star, HD70642, and has no 
bigger planets between it and the star, just like Jupiter. 
[...]
"The discovery will be announced today at an astronomy conference 
in Paris by team member Hugh Jones of the Liverpool John Moores
University in England. 
The Australian
www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,6696903%255E13762,00.html

http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/03/pr0373.htm

Scientists Discover Planetary System Similar to Our Own
http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/03/pr0373.htm
"An international team of scientists has discovered a planet 
and star that may share the same relationship as Jupiter and 
our Sun, the closest comparison that researchers have found 
since they began their search for extra-solar planets nearly 
a decade ago..." 
http://www.scienceblog.com/community/article1801.html

http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/03/pr0373.htm
Additional Public Information Contacts: 
PPARC Contact: 
Julia Maddock, PPARC Press Office, +44 (0) 1793 442094, 
Julia.Maddock@pparc.ac.uk 

AAO Contact: 
Helen Sim, Communications Manager, CSIRO, +61 2 9372 4251, 
hsim@atnf.csiro.au 

Principal Investigators: 
USA 
Carnegie Institution of Washington 
R. Paul Butler and Chris McCarthy 
Tel: +1 202 478 8866 
Email: paul@dtm.ciw.edu / chris@dtm.ciw.edu 

Geoff Marcy and Debra Fischer 
University of California, Berkeley 
Tel: +1 510 642 1952 / 643 8973 
Email: gmarcy@etoile.berkeley.edu / fischer@astro.berkeley.edu 

UK 
Hugh Jones 
Liverpool John Moores University 
Mobile: +44 (0) 7956 945276 (will be available 
during the conference on this number) 
Tel: +44 (0) 151 231 2909 (From Friday onwards) 
Email: hraj@astro.livjm.ac.uk 
Homepage: http://www.astro.livjm.ac.uk/~hraj 

Alan Penny 
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory 
Tel: +44 (0) 1235 445675 
Mobile: +44 (0) 7952-244-350 
Email: alan.penny@rl.ac.uk 
Homepage: http://ast.star.rl.ac.uk/penny 

Australia 
Chris Tinney 
Anglo Australian Observatory 
Tel: +61 2 9372 4849 
Mobile: +61 0416 092 117 
Email: cgt@aaoepp.aao.gov.au 

Brad Carter 
University of Southern Queensland 
Mobile +61 0401 337 319 
Email: carterb@usq.edu.au 

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http://www.nsf.gov/od/lpa/news/03/pr0373.htm