Editor's note: Astronomy Update is a monthly column provided by the Chippewa Valley Astronomical Society, Hobbs Observatory and the L.E. Phillips Planetarium, compiled by Lauren Likkel of the UW-Eau Claire physics and astronomy department.

Last month saw the opening of "The Avengers," which so far has taken in more than $575 million worldwide.

I contributed my $8.50.

The movie exercised the belief of aliens, or extraterrestrial life, from outer space who were about to take over the world.

Countless movies have such scenarios, but why?

Many human beings are fascinated with outer space organisms because of the unknown aspects.

Recently, there have been many discoveries of exoplanets, or planets not in our solar system, orbiting other stars. More than 200 have been confirmed, while thousands more are possible candidates of being exoplanets.

This brings the hope that extraterrestrial life exists.

The first exoplanet was found in 1995 and is orbiting the star 51 Pegasus, with a planet year of merely four days and a planet mass half the size of the massive Jupiter.

That is a big exoplanet orbiting very close to its star.

See the rest here:

Astronomy Update: Exoplanets hint at extraterrestrial life