And worlds without number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose: and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten. (Moses 1:33)
That verse tells us there are an infinite number of worlds in the Cosmos. When that verse was written in June 1830, I'm guessing that there was no scientific evidence about life on other planets. Even science fiction about life in space came later. According to Wikipedia science fiction developed in the 19th century, much later than the recording of that verse from Moses. I consider that verse one of the most remarkable predictions in Mormonism.
Latter-day Saints believe the many worlds created by God serve as mortal homes for God's spirit children, and this substantiated by the following verse from the book of Moses.
And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living; for thus have I, the Lord God, called the first of all women, which are many. (Moses 4:26)
After hearing about worlds without number, Moses asked the Lord to tell him about the earth and its inhabitants, and also about the heavens. The Lord replied by saying
And the Lord God spake unto Moses, saying: The heavens they are many, and they cannot be numbered unto man; but they are numbered unto me, for they are mine.
And as one earth shall pass away, and the heavens thereof even so shall another come; and there is no end to my works, neither to my words. (Moses 1:37-38)
There is no end to the creations of God.
The first planet outside our solar system was discovered in 1992, and in subsequent years, hundreds of additional planets have been discovered. Planets not in our solar system are known as exoplanets. Many of the planets that have been discovered are large gas planets and are orbiting too close to their star to have the conditions for life. However, as scientists develop better technology, they are detecting smaller planets, including some which are believed to be rocky planets.
Great efforts are being made in the scientific community to discover exoplanets. As reported in The State of Planet Hunting at the End of 2005, Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution in Washington, DC predicted that by the end of the next decade, scientists will know which nearby stars have planets, and we will have the first images from sunlight reflecting off the atmospheres of some of the exoplanets.
The National Geographic Daily News published an article describing the finding of a planet that is about 36 light-years from our earth. The planet is about 3.6 times the mass of our earth, and it orbits its star at the right distance to have water on the planet. The planet orbits in a circular orbit, meaning it should have a stable climate. Scientists say that the planet would need a cloud cover of about 50% to keep the planet from overheating. Our earth has a 60% cloud cover. In order to have clouds, the planet would need an atmosphere, and we currently do not have instruments that can detect an atmosphere on exoplanets.
