Life on Other Worlds?
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| Image Courtesy ESO |
One of the biggest questions surrounding space exploration, perhaps the biggest one to the common person, is whether or not we are alone in the universe. I don't think it is a reach to say that most writers of science fiction, and perhaps most astronomers—if pressed—would say it's likely we are not alone. The universe is too big a place to imagine that life is so special it only formed here on Earth. Despite the statistical odds and calculations (most famously, the Drake Equation) being in life's favor, we still have yet to find actual proof of extra-terrestrial life.
However, there are many promising signs of life on other worlds to be found if we look hard enough. For one, here on Earth, we find life in the oddest places—like inside rocks in Antarctica:
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| Image courtesy Wikipedia under GNU Free Document License |
—at the bottom of the ocean where no light penetrates:
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| Image courtesy Wikipedia & NOAA |
—and even volcanoes, arid deserts, and other inhospitable environments:
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| Image courtesy Wikipedia Commons |
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| Image courtesy Wikipedia under GNU Free Document License |
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Methanopyrus kandleri
Image courtesy Wikipedia under GNU Free Document License |
Recently, the Habitable Planets Catalog by the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo celebrated its first anniversary on December 5. This is a catalog is dedicated to listing known planets around other stars with the potential to host life as we know it. When it was first created, the catalog listed only two planets, but over the past year it's grown to seven confirmed worlds with nearly thirty planets and thirty moons with the potential for life awaiting analysis.
Below is a video from the catalog showcasing the confirmed worlds.
I personally find these discoveries to be very heartening. As a writer of science fiction I'd like to believe the things I dream about could actually exist somewhere in some form. The thought that we are unique in the universe is a very lonely one, and I'm happy to say mathematically improbable given the vast scope of even just our galaxy. Even if we don't find life in our solar system, remember that we're looking at a billion-billion-billionth of what's actually out there just in our galaxy. There are hundreds of Earth-type suns within just a few thousand light-years of us. That fact gives me a sense of hope for the future that one day we will throw off our earthly shackles, sail among the stars exploring the galaxy, and maybe better ourselves in the process.
There MUST be life out there. Whether it's technologically advanced is another matter (see Drake equation). I think, given the number of stars in just our galaxy alone and the number of planets in the 'goldilocks' zone, the odds that this planet is the only one on which life has evolved, would have to be unlikely.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment.
ReplyDeleteI'd even go a step further and say we may be the first species in the galaxy to achieve technological advancement, but I'm sure we're not the only one. As the law of averages states, anything possible will happen given enough time- and it's entirely possible that there are worlds somewhere that evolved life and intelligent life much faster than this one.
For all we know, we're the slow kids on the galactic block! ;)
Time will tell!
To me it's only logical that we are not alone. What's illogical, is that we haven't found any other lifeforms yet. Then I remember the saying, "Be careful what you wish for..." and think, maybe it's better that way. :)
ReplyDeleteTo me it's only logical that we are not alone. What's illogical, is that we haven't, yet, found any other lifeforms. Then I remember the saying, "Be careful what you wish for..." and think, maybe that's okay. :)
ReplyDelete