Before humans ever ventured into space, we fantasized about visiting—and even living on—other planets. as technology continues to develop, it may one day be possible for humans to call planets other than earth home. space scientists have several possible earth-like planets and moons in sight, but one that is of high interest is kepler-186f, a planet 500 light years away. it orbits a star much like the sun, and it orbits in a habitable zone: it is far enough from the star to allow for the pooling of water (if it is present) on the planet's surface.
is being in a "habitable zone" enough to say the planet is habitable for human life? what characteristics would an earth-like planet need to have to support life? what challenges would we face traveling to and colonizing kepler-186f, or other earth-like planets outside of our solar system? do you think scientists should spend time looking for earth-like planets before we have the technology to visit them? why or why not?

If a planet is located in a so called ''habitable zone'' it doesn't necessarily means that the planet actually offers suitable living conditions. The planet may not even be suitable for the development of less complex organisms, yet alone for humans to exist on it, especially because we are a species that is highly adapted to only certain type of living conditions. In order for complex organisms to be able to live on a planet, it would need to have thick atmosphere, gasses that enable breathing, photosynthesis, and trapping the heat, suitable temperature that is neither too high nor too low, soil, large freshwater reserves, active core... Even if a planet like Kepler-186f is indeed habitable, there are several major problems when it comes to colonizing it. One factor is the distance, as everyone that will travel towards it will die long before the planet is reached. This brings another problem, as the people that will travel towards the planet will have to reproduce between themselves, and the descendants of them, several generations later will be the ones that actually reach the planet, and they might not even want to go there. Food sources and water sources for such a long travel are pretty much impossible to have on a space ship. Once reached, there might be deadly bacteria and viruses that can kill everyone and everything o be for nothing. The scientists definitely should continue looking for habitable planets in the universe and gain as much information about them as possible, but until there is technology that can bring the people there nothing should even be considered for making a travel to them.