New Haven, Connecticut (CNN) -- Americans were enthralled by fake reports of an alien invasion in the Orson Welles "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast on Halloween Eve in 1938. Hundreds of science fiction movies from the 1902 silent epic "A Trip to the Moon" (featured in the current film "Hugo") to "Star Wars" to this year's "Cowboys and Aliens" have fed a deep curiosity about intelligent beings elsewhere in the universe. Hang on to your hats, because reality is starting to catch up. On Tuesday, scientists reported evidence from the Kepler satellite that two Earth-sized planets are orbiting a nearby star about 1,000 light years from earth -- practically our back yard compared to the extent of our Milky Galaxy, but far too distant to visit with current spacecraft.
@highlight
Scientists announce the discovery of two Earth-sized planets
@highlight
Meg Urry says they're too close to their star to host life as we know it
@highlight
She says planets like Earth likely will be discovered in the "habitable" zone
@highlight
Urry: Life is likely to exist on some planets in Milky Way galaxy
These planets, named @placeholder 20-e and Kepler 20-f, have sizes and masses similar to the Earth, and their host star is similar to our sun.
Kepler