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How Soon Can You Escape To The New Exoplanets?

by Korey Lane

When I was a little girl, my dad and I used to dream about taking a vacation to outer space one day. I didn't want to be an astronaut, but I did want to explore, and what was more exploratory than leaving Earth? Soon, though, I grew up and developed a fear of heights, the dark, and moving too fast. Obviously, going to outer space was out of the question. Then, the 2016 election happened. And after a giant, orange reality star became our new president, I began to dream of escaping America, reality, and this planet on a daily basis for a different one. It all seemed like a pipe dream, though. Until today. Because today, NASA has announced the discovery of seven new earth-sized planets orbiting a star in outer space. So, just how far away are the seven new exoplanets, and how soon can we get there?

Seriously, I know I can't be the only one ready to escape this hell fire of a world we live in, and start over fresh. Maybe without a president who refuses to play nice with the media or call out Russian aggression and hacking as our commander in chief. And with NASA's new discovery, so comes a newfound hope. According to their findings, the planets are only "40 light-years (235 trillion miles) from Earth," meaning they are "relatively close to us, in the constellation Aquarius."

NASA also reported that the new planets quite possibly contain water, and with that, even life. So, basically, there's a very strong chance that these newly discovered planets are capable of being inhabited by humans. We just might have a bit of a chance of escaping this planet after all!

As the findings state, "the seven planets have equilibrium temperatures low enough to make possible the presence of liquid water on their surfaces," which, to me, reads: Pack your bags, Korey! You might be escaping possible authoritarianism long before you thought possible!

And, while this new discovery is still in the works, and the new planets haven't proven to be compatible with human life just yet, I'm still already fantasizing about living out my childhood dreams, and maybe even being a real-life Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century. Because, come on, it can't be that much of a coincidence that this discovery comes just when this style is coming back into fashion:

So, I guess until those planets are approved to be part of some new sci-fi experiment or whatever I'll just be over here buying neon vests and updating my choker and scrunchy collection, while also starting to pull out all my money from the bank. Because, seriously, it's starting to seem like this whole thing (read: the world) is going south, and I'd rather not go down with it.