NASA Kepler scientist Fergal Mullally put together two images during his presentation on a quest for Earth-like planets. The first image was a photograph of a grain-sized space section that was lit by over 100 billion stars, and the other one what seemed to be a blank screen.

When the audience looked at the blank screenMullally pointed towards a tiny speck, explaining that it was a photograph of the Earth.

The Kepler scientist described in detail the importance of a space section with so much activity. Mullally said that the sky has an estimated 100 billion galaxies, and each galaxy has around 100 billion stars.

Mullallyadded that when you think of so huge numbers some questions arise in your mind, like ‘is our sun the only star having a planet around it that host’s life’? Or‘are we alone?’

Sophomore Zoë Coffing said that she was surprised to see the Earth’s size relative to the other parts of the universe in the presentation ofMullally.

Coffing added that she has never realized how small everything was. She mentioned that it would be good if she comes to know that there is something out there.

In 2009, the Kepler Space Telescope mission was started to answer this question. Astronomers in a quest for Earth-like planetsare hopeful of finding planets that can host life.

Mullallymentioned that the telescope looks for habitable planets with the help of the transit method, which includescalculating the amount of light a planet blocks,when it orbits in between its star and the telescope.