... And if we are no longer alone in the universe would be? The search for extrasolar planets and extraterrestrial life forms.

The search for so-called exoplanets - planets orbiting around our sun is not, but to distant stars - is of paramount importance to you find an answer to one of the most probable most profound questions that mankind can ask: Are we alone in the universe?

ESO's observatories are equipped with a unique arsenal of instruments that allow to find exoplanets and to study.

With the VLT (Very Large Telescope) is the first time astronomers have failed to demonstrate the faint glow of a planet outside our solar system and so for the first time ever to depict an exoplanet.

This new world is a giant planet, about five times as massive as Jupiter, the most massive planet in our solar system.

This observation is an important step towards one of the main goals of modern astrophysics: to characterize the physical structure and chemical composition of giant planets and, ultimately, also from Earth-like planets.

With HARPS, the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (literally, the "high-precision radial velocity planet hunter"), astronomers have discovered no less than three planets orbiting nearby stars and have similar masses as the planet Neptune.

One of these planets has a mass about five times larger than Earth and is located in the habitable zone of its star. In this zone, temperatures prevail, in which water can exist in liquid form - the basic condition of life as we know it.

The astronomers suspect could exist, that it is a rocky planet is which, as our earth, has a firm surface on which liquid water. This discovery is an extremely important step in the search for planets where life could exist.

Another discovery was made with a network of telescopes spread across the globe, which include the Danish 1.54-meter telescope at La Silla. Using an innovative technique that makes use of the so-called micro-lensing effect in the bargain, a group of scientists discovered in 2005, the Earth-like exoplanet yet.

The planet has five times the mass of Earth, takes ten years to orbit its host star, and has very likely a rocky or icy surface.

Using the CoRoT satellite and the HARPS spectrograph of the ESO astronomers discovered the first "normal" extrasolar planets. The planet named Corot-9b regularly attracts over in front of a sun-like star, which is located at 1500 light years away from Earth in the constellation of the Serpent, and therefore can be analyzed in detail.

The Universe: Another Earth HD- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoPLVHnYupM&feature=&p=79F96F87F10B3211&index=0&playnext=1

Is Earth Unique or Is Life Common across the Universe?- http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/earth-unique-search-for-life-101014.html

Earth-like Planets HD- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KhIM2j-mbA&

We are not alone: One in four stars 'may have Earth-like planets in orbit around them'- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1324604/We-One-stars-Earth-like-planets-orbiting-them.html#ixzz13kyIXOyr

Galaxy may contain 'many Earth-like planets- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/8093150/Galaxy-may-contain-many-Earth-like-planets.html

Galaxy May be Full of 'Earths,' Alien life - http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/02/25/galaxy.planets.kepler/index.html

Aliens Are out There- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2J7e-m07Dpg

Looking for Alien Earths? Here they come- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk0ZXRlyKoU&

Earth-like Planet Discoveries on the Horizon (8/1/2010)- http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/285279

Earth's Twin Planet Will Be Found By The End Of The Year, leading Astronomer says (26/1/2010)- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1246127/SETI-Royal-Society-Earths-twin-planet-end-year-leading-astronomer-says.html

Scientists Discover Planet similar to Earth HD- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quYQPO4H16A&

Michio Kaku: Earth-Like Planet Discovered- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lp5k8fWbt0&

New Planet Might Support Life- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFqegTN10Xs&

Odds of Life on Newfound Earth-Size Planet '100 Percent,' Astronomer Says- http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/earth-like-exoplanet-possibly-habitable-100929.html

New Planet: There's Life!- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_SgAWzp58w&

Man 'Must Prepare to Meet Alien Life Forms' (25/1/2010) - http://news.stv.tv/scotland/152841-man-must-prepare-to-meet-alien-life-forms/