Is There Life Out There?
I’m not going to get all theological or religous on you. I have my beliefs, and you have yours. But it’s interesting to note that if God did create us, what was stopping “him” (for lack of a better word) from creating others?
I mean science is showing us the universe and how big it really is. We have telescopes and methods to detect planets in the farthest reaches of the universe. Why couldn’t there be others out there? Just because “science” says so?
I read an interesting article today “Trio of super-Earths discovered orbiting one star”. It was an interesting article.
I’ve excerpted a few interesting paragraphs from the story with a link to the article at the end of this post.
Planet hunter Michel Mayor, best known for discovering the first confirmed planet outside our solar system, said in a statement the finds suggest the search for Earth-like planets has just begun.
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The term Earth-like planet is a rather broad definition and includes planets with a mass below 30 Earth masses; in other words, planets smaller than gas giants like Jupiter or Saturn. But because they aren’t as easy to spot as gas giants, even the largest of these planets evaded detection until recent years.
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More than 270 planets have been discovered outside our solar system, but as instruments become more precise, research is increasingly focusing on planets similar to Earth, particularly those at a distance similar to our own planet’s distance from the sun.
Astronomers see this as the “sweet spot,” since the temperature and conditions might allow for the presence of liquid water, a key ingredient for supporting life.
SOURCE: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/06/16/exoplanets-trio.html
Could these distant planets harbor life? Isn’t it logical to think that if something as complex as you, and I and our eco-system/planet etc., was created there is nothing to stop a supreme being to have created other worlds or people/living beings?
I’m truly fascinated by these discoveries because they are pushing the way science percieves the world and the universe around us. All it will take is for us to discover one or several planets that have a high probability to support life for us to work towards building generational ships to help us get to these far off places - albeit for those that decide on the journey, it is most likely a one way trip and there woud need to be significant hurdles to overcome in being able to build such a ship.
That being said - what if there is life out there and they decide to come and visit us first? What would they look like? Will they come with a vengence and destroy us first like the “alien” did in the movie Cloverfield? Or will it be more like a meeting as in the TV series Earth: Final Conflict as depicted by Majel Barrett-Roddenenberry or the fantastic series, Andromeda, that is set thousands of years in the future. The other series that comes to mind, that was also groundbreaking is Battlestar Galactica. In Earth: Final Conflict and Andomeda, the “aliens” are not as exotic as you see in movies like Star Wars.
What would they look like?
An excellent DVD to watch is a series from the BBC. They made such great shows as:
- Walking With Monsters - Life Before Dinosaurs (5 Stars IMO)
- Walking With Dinosaurs
- Voyage To The Planets And Beyond
- Chased By Dinosaurs
- Walking With Cavemen
- Prehistoric America
- Walking With Prehistoric Beasts
…now the same of the DVD escapes me (doncha hate when that happens) but it is basically a movie of humans having sent two intelligent machines to a far off world that they explore and in the process find life. Most of the life is very primative, and nothing like you or I. I will head down to the library this week and see if I can find the title again and post it here (however if you know which one I’m talking about, do comment and let me know).
Even if we look within our own solar system. Mars has the potential to hold life, and the greatest potential to be colonized. Other planets in our solar system appear to have water and as our technology improves we may be able to mine those planets and the asteroids for valuable resources.
When will we get out there, even further? Who knows. Our technology needs to advance significantly to make it effortless (or as near as can be) to travel the vast distances - even within our own solar system - to explore.
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Comments
Great post Mo! I think Mars will be the first baby step to greater things that we could hardly conceive at this point.
Probably to get beyond our solar system, we will have to abandon the idea of travel by propulsion and instead understand and apply the laws that govern the macro-verse. In this way, the illusion of distance can be overcome. 
-Jack
@Tom - You are right, there is no proof one way or the other. I suppose you need to be very open minded about the possibilities that exist.
@Jack - Thanks! I agree with you, Mars will be the first step. Seeing all the advancements they are making in space exploration is so exciting. I read a report recently that “they” have discovered a way to make telescopes in space using material found on the moon. Of course, the challenge will be to process the material and build the infrastructure needed on the moon to process the material. I’ve read a lot about space elevators and know that there are some companies working towards this but so far the experiments that have been conducted don’t look too positive. To boot they are talking about using carbon nano cabling, and I seem to remember reading somehwere that this material is causing symptoms similar to problems found with people that worked with asbestos.
What is really needed is a cheap way to get cargo into space, and methods to then assemble or refine the material in space.
Mohamed
Interesting thought. There is no proof either way to the existence of other life forms, so I guess we will just have to wait and see.