Fundación Galileo Galilei - INAF Telescopio Nazionale Galileo 28°45'14.4N 17°53'20.6W 2387.2m A.S.L.

noi sappiamo che, si noi fussimo ne la luna o in altre stelle, non sarreimo in loco molto dissimile a questo

Giordano Bruno
(1584, La cena delle ceneri, dialogo primo)

With these words (we know that, were we on the moon or other stars, we will not be in a place very dissimilar to this) Giordano Bruno was envisaging the non uniqueness of our planet. We are experiencing in these days the possibility to finally discover planets in other solar systems, using always more sophisticated instruments. During year 2012 TNG will be equipped with Harps-N, a spectrograph sensible and stable enough to be able to spot the presence of exoplanets as small as our own, habitable Earth. Another world may be possible. Happy 2012.
Emilio Molinari, Director.