We should not be surprised that things like life as we know it exist in such an all-encompassing form. The Universe is full of a variety of stuff, and there is every reason to assume that there is life of one sort or another. The fact that this is the case does not mean that we can get a look inside it. It does not mean that it exists in the mundane sense of the word. Rather, it means that life as we know it exists at all, and has a place in the Universe as something more.

This is exactly what Kepler-421b has captured the wonder of. Kepler-421b is a planetary system with two planets orbiting it. And now astronomers have the opportunity to observe it directly for the first time with the James Webb Space Telescope.

Today the Keck Observatory in Hawaii announced that it had a newfound second planet within Kepler-421b. At 3,200 kilometres in diameter, it's the largest moon in the new system. While the new planet is not the Earth-sized planet that was discovered earlier this year by the Kepler mission, Kepler-421b is the closest to Earth in size and rotation. Its star is only four per cent larger than our Sun.

[So the question here is,] are we alone in the Universe? Can't we all make an impact on other planets? Why do other species engage in trade and culture? Why are we on Earth, and what does it mean to be human?

[Space travel has always been the biggest fantasy of us, as a civilisation, not any more] Quoting a leading scientist, I came across some shocking figures this week that shook my very soul. We're all about to experience major shifts that will profoundly change our lives and our planet. I find myself more in awe of this than ever before.

"Since the 1950s we have sent just six people into space for 15 minutes at a time. It's an experience so profound that some cannot even recover the short-term effects. More recently, a NASA mission to Mars began last August. They plan to send astronauts to the red planet sometime in 2025. There are only nine men and women currently in space right now."

[These are all fascinating, but the question here is how far can we explore the cosmos despite the limitations we have as a species?] Universe takes us to a startling conclusion: We are all part of the same phenomenon, an ongoing "Voyager movie" that we all share in common. And this journey across the cosmos isn't just a story; it's an education as well.

If you can draw and use a two-dimensional plane well, you'll gain a new way of seeing how everything fits together, and a new perspective on your own experience. Interstellar travel is possible and based on existing research, it is not unreasonable to believe that asteroid mining may one day be feasible, [ a Garon pointed out in his 2011 paper ] "Abundant in Earth's Asteroid Belt, and Just Around the Corner"

There are about 1,000 known earth-based asteroids that have their own independent satellite systems, but most (about half) of these asteroids are too small to orbit the Earth. This means that most of the tiny asteroids are in the inner solar system and near the orbits of the gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn. So, there's a really small population of accessible worlds in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. For example, two Jupiter-sized planets in the Sun's habitable zone are known as M dwarf and are predicted to host oceans of liquid water beneath their rocky crusts. However, there are several in the "inner solar system's" habitable zone, meaning that they would likely host life.

"The inner solar system is a great place to be, and we're going to do a lot of exploring. There's still so much we don't know about this particular region of our solar system," said Alvin Rubinstein, NASA's director of planetary science.

[So the only question remains is 'when' we will finally become an interplanetary civilisation?]