Why Study other Planets??
I never understood why we, as a species, would devote time, effort, and resources to studying exo-planets, or: far away planets - like beyond Mars.
They are so far from the Sun that we could not even survive on there - at least with current technology.
Studying them with current technology is hard - like we’re using some of the smartest people on Earth to think about them.
When there are other problems all around us - can’t those resources be better served elsewhere??
When I read Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot, studying exo-planets is hard, they also provide humans insight into our own planet, like answering the question:
How did life on Earth start???
Looking at exo-planets like Jupiter and Neptune helps in answering this question because they are so far away from the Sun that they are basically frozen versions of an early Earth.
Now that’s cool - whole planets that we can use to learn about our own planet.
Other articles I wrote on Pale Blue Dot
- Origin of the Days of the Week
- Why Study Other Planets? (this article)