NASA has just reported that the Hubble Space Telescope has detected a new planet orbiting the star Fomalhaut, about 25 light years away from our solar system.

The new planet dubbed Fomalhaut b has a mass about three times greater than that of Jupiter but differently from the two hundred or so exoplanets that have been detected by indirect means – wobbling of the stars around which they orbit because of gravitational interactions – Fomalhaut b has actually been seen thorough the telescope. This is the first time that a planet outside our own solar system has been seen directly by optical means.

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There is more on exoplanets and the possibility of finding life outside Earth. See:

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Yes, and there are possibilites related to the development of a true warp engine capable of taking someone there. It will not happen tomorrow, but at least the conceptual and physical framework has been laid down:

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