Were they curious as to what the heavens had to hide?
Now it is very different as we have developed sophisticated telescopes and other specialised scientific instruments that are revealing some of the secrets that the Universe holds.
Scientists believed that the Universe came into existence roughly 13.8 billion years ago.
Two trillion is one estimate for the number of galaxies that are spread throughout that vast area we call the Universe.
The number of stars in our galaxy the Milky Way is usually stated at over 100 billion, but many experts believe that there could be 200 billion or much more.
We now know for sure that the vast majority of stars will have orbiting planets, as you probably know our local star system has the Sun at its centre, with 8 orbiting planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, and of course all the other countless celestial objects that make up our solar system.
If we use the 200 billion stars estimate and give every star in the Milky Way an average of just two planets, that would add up to roughly 400 billion planets, considering that the Sun has 8 planets, I don't think that the estimated number of planets is too unreasonable.
The Earth orbits the Sun in the goldilocks zone or habitable zone, which is where water can be in three well-known states, liquid, solid and gas, perfect for the existence of life as we know it.
Venus and Mars are also in the goldilocks zone but there is no doubt which planet has the best conditions for life as we know it to exist and flourish.
Our world just happens to be at the perfect distance from the Sun, a bit closer to the Sun and the water would boil away, a bit further from the Sun and all the water would be frozen solid.
Imagine how many planets there must be in our galaxy orbiting stars in the habitable zone, there must be trillions of them. We cannot yet say for sure if any of them harbour intelligent life or even primitive life, but surely, it would be unreasonable to think that life got a start on only one planet, namely the Earth.
As of now we only know of one place in our solar system that harbours life, but, could it be possible that there is primitive life on a planet or moon in our solar system, we might even get proof of past life as we study our neighbouring planets.
Hopefully, in the future, we will get a definite answer to that very important question "are we alone in the Universe"