<international conference with the emphasis on the space missions "DARWIN" and "Terrestrial Planet Finder"

Big typo: "Two extremely demanding space missions, "DARWIN" (ESA) and "Terrestrial Planet Finder" (NASA), are scheduled to search for planets outside our solar system (extrasolar) starting in 20014" Damn that's a long wait! ;-)

The standard hype: "The first planet orbiting a star other than our Sun was detected in 1995. With this fundamental discovery, the eternal question of the cosmic uniqueness of our life-bearing Earth was removed from the realm of pure speculation and put on a firm scientific basis"
Gee and I thought all the computer models of star formation predicted solar systems were common prior to that discovery.

Why do so many act like this was a breaktrhough discovery rather than a confirming one? Most astronomers thought planets were common and the data so far actually indicates Earthlike planets are probably less common than theorists thought yet this discovery still continues to be treated as if it raises the possibility for life elsewhere.

Got to say though that I'm all for these missions and wish they would arrive sooner. Mars landers and Cassini on deck though so the near term looks fun for space fans.

Regards,
Mark