Why was it thought that other planetary systems existed before there was technology to search for them?
The curiosity to know what existed beyond our sight and to experience the unknown has been a fascination for mankind always. Speculation that other planetary systems exist dates back to antiquity, and through the years ever increasing numbers of astronomers searched for earthlike planets circling sunlike stars. The history of astronomy is the study of humankind’s early attempts to understand the skies. All people have looked up and wondered about the Sun, Moon, planets, stars, and their complex ballet of motion. Interpretations vary widely among cultures, but often the sky is considered as the abode of gods, where humans can never touch. The consideration of stars and planets as physical objects that obey knowable laws started in the Middle East (and somewhat in China) and has spread into cultures that are the intellectual heirs of the Greeks. A fairly modern view of the heavens only started in the early 1600’s when Galileo first turned the newly invented telescope to the heavens and s
