How quickly what was once considered near-miraculous becomes routine.

Until close to the end of the last century, it was believed that we might – although statistically it seemed improbable – be alone in the universe. No astronomer had ever detected a planet outside our solar system.

Then, in 1992, two were discovered and, after that, it seemed, the discoveries came faster and faster. Now NASA’s Kepler space telescope mission in just six weeks of searching has identified more than 700 likely planets, 140 of them Earth-size and thus potentially habitable.

And that is only the beginning. Harvard astronomer and Kepler team member Dimitar Sasselov estimates that the Milky Way, our galaxy, may have as many as 100 million habitable planets. Last week, European astronomers, using Earth- and space-based telescopes, said they believed they had found the most massive star ever – a behemoth 320 times the weight of the sun, 10 million times brighter and seven times hotter. The star is R136a1 in the Tarantula Nebula. Because it is consuming itself at an enormous rate, it is likely to be around for only 3 million years or so before expiring in what should be a huge explosion.

Another NASA space telescope, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, launched six months ago, has made staggering discoveries of its own – 25,000 new asteroids, 15 new comets and 20 new brown dwarfs, lifeless objects that are something between a small star and a large planet.

Meanwhile on Mars, NASA still has two rovers. Spirit has been hibernating, out of touch since March. The scientists hope it will accumulate enough solar energy to recharge its batteries and restore communication. But its twin, Opportunity, is alive and well and inching across the surface of the Red Planet.

But consider: The rovers landed on Mars in January 2004. A mission that was expected to last three months, tops, is still going on more than six years later. Just another routine miracle.