Now the news continues.
In a rare negative response to a scientific discovery, the Chinese Internet fell into deep melancholy at NASA's announcement that it had found an Earth-like planet, Kepler-452b.
While exciting scientific discoveries might be met with bewildered indifference from Penny of the hugely popular TV series The Big Bang Theory, the Chinese response to NASA's announcement perhaps came from setting their expectations too high.
According to NASA information, conditions on the planet seem ideal enough. Kepler-452b is positioned around as far from its parent star as Earth is from the sun, completing an orbit in 385 days, compared to Earth's 365-day orbit. Surface temperatures are suitable for liquid water, a condition critical for life.
So, much of the disappointment comes from the fact that Kepler 452b is very far away, 1,400 light years away, to be exact, making interstellar migration virtually impossible, and squashing hopes of being able to start over with a pristine new Earth.
Chinese netizens were also disappointed because of the way the information was revealed. They experienced an emotional roller-coaster since media outlets hinted at a major finding. Many people went to bed in the hopes that when they woke up the next morning, they would receive life-changing, revolutionary news.
Tech website guokr.com summed up the disappointment with a sarcastic post on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like social networking service: "This is the so-called big news announcement: there's a better than ever chance that the planet is rocky. That's it."
Scientists agree that so far, Earth seems unique.
