Thinking of a long, long journey.

I wonder how many earth-like planets are in the cosmos. My guess is at least a million or so. Countless numbers. That creation is teeming with life. That we have plenty of company. In recent years, 326 planets have been discovered outside our solar system. Not sure if any of 'em resemble Earth. But let's say 1 in 10,000 have environments similar to Earth. That leaves many possibilities for life. After all, astronomers estimate that there are billions of galaxies and billions of stars in a single galaxy. I'm overwhelmed by these numbers. We have the technology now to even capture pictures of planets orbiting stars outside of our solar system. These other solar systems are hundreds and thousaads of light years away. Meaning it'd take something like 1,000 years to reach another solar system traveling at a speed of 186,000 miles per second. Wow! That's a long distance and a long time for we earthlings. Can't do it in a lifetime. But I'm guessing that if there's an afterlife, we become spirits able to transcend time and distance as fast as one can snap two fingers. I'd like to book a ticket on that journey. --Jim Broede