The Milky Way Galaxy is a large, spinning collection of stars, planets, nebulae, and black holes, and it’s also the home of a little planet called Earth. Across the approximate one hundred thousand light years of space that the Milky Way takes up, there are around one hundred to four hundred billion stars.¹ The Milky Way being such a massive collection of stars, it’s difficult to contend that Earth might be the only place in the universe that harbors life.

Earth is a terrestrial planet, meaning that Earth is primarily composed of solids such as rock, silicate, and carbon or liquids such as water, and is not a gaseous planet.² Current estimates suggest that there are likely over ten billion terrestrial planets throughout the Milky Way Galaxy alone, which means that there are at least over ten billion possible locations in the Milky Way Galaxy where Earth-like life may reside.³ Although there are many possible locations where life could exist, currently, we lack the technology to confirm or refute the existence of life on any planets outside of our solar system. As of right now, Earth is the only known location where life exists.

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