The Activity Center will host Exoplanets, a program exploring the possibility of life elsewhere in the vast universe on Thursday, April 5, at the Community Center from 2 to 3 p.m.

Is there life elsewhere in the Universe? There’s no evidence of it yet, but one of the requirements for life is a place to exist, most likely a planet like ours where water can exist in liquid form. There aren’t any other good candidates in our solar system, but what about other stars-could they have planets around them?

Until the Kepler Space Observatory was launched in 2009, we had no idea, but in 2013 after analyzing data from the spacecraft, scientists announced that there might be as many as 40 billion – yes, billion with a “b” – rocky, Earth-sized planets (exoplanets) orbiting in the habitable zones of Sun-like stars in the Milky Way.

Amazingly, the nearest such planet might be as little as 12 light years away, almost a next-door neighbor (at interstellar distance of course).

Program presenter is Ted Blank, NASA Solar System Ambassador for the past five years. He is the past-president of the New Hampshire Astronomical Society and a co-founder of the FH Astronomy Club.

Pre-registration is required. The program is free for Activity Center members with a $5 non-member fee.