What Makes You Think Life May Exist In The Universe Besides Our Own?

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What Makes You Think Life May Exist In The Universe Besides Our Own?

#1

Post by Refractordude »


With over a hundred billion galaxies in the universe. It is hard for me to believe that there is not at least one other solar system with life. What say you?
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Re: What Makes You Think Life May Exist In The Universe Besides Our Own?

#2

Post by GCoyote »


Agreed. That would be an awful lot of tosses of the cosmic dice to not get at least a few more hits.
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Re: What Makes You Think Life May Exist In The Universe Besides Our Own?

#3

Post by Ozypic »


Yep just the numbers says it all... there has to be heaps. Its just the distance that will probably always be the problem... but then where did lawyers and politician's come from ? I worked in the steelworks here for 45 yrs and some of the workers looked a bit iffy....
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Re: What Makes You Think Life May Exist In The Universe Besides Our Own?

#4

Post by Pikaia »


Bacteria could well be common, but complex life might be very much rarer. All complex life on Earth evolved from a freak merger of two different microbes a couple of billion years after the first life, and this has never successfully happened again since, so it might have been a 1 in a thousand or 1 in a million fluke, for all we know. Read "The Vital Question" by Nick Lane for more info - highly recommended.
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Re: What Makes You Think Life May Exist In The Universe Besides Our Own?

#5

Post by messier 111 »


Very interesting question.
Personally, I believe that life exists elsewhere.
I don't see what's so special about us that we are the only ones in this whole big universe.
We have been here for only a blink of an eye, since the formation of everything.
if we are ever actually alone, mother nature has made a mistake.
But I am sure that mother nature did not make a mistake.
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Re: What Makes You Think Life May Exist In The Universe Besides Our Own?

#6

Post by Thefatkitty »


That's a good question. I know when I was a kid I found it hard to believe that our 9 (now 8; thanks IAU) planets were the only ones out there. But we needed proof, and at the time it was not there. Now, thanks to 30+ years of discoveries, we know that there a probably thousands of (at least) planets in our own galaxy; which in itself is estimated to have about 2 billion stars. Even in our own galaxy I'd think that chances would be pretty good. Even if, as Pikaia mentioned, it's only bacterial.

The moons around Jupiter; Europa especially, Ganymede, and Callisto may hold life. There's also Enceladus orbiting Saturn... I'd have to think Titan is too cold and too filled with lakes of liquid ethane and methane, coupled with a 95% nitrogen atmosphere... But maybe life is hardier than thought? Heck, life has been discovered on Earth from the arid conditions of the Utah salt flats to the bottom of the ocean with no sunlight.

And too bad the "Wow!" Signal was not what we had hoped...

Hard facts need hard proof. We have that with exoplanets. It would be great to get that with extra-terrestrial life, and I seriously hope it happens in my lifetime! Yeah, in the two official languages of Canada, good luck/bonne chance with that, Mark! :lol:

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Re: What Makes You Think Life May Exist In The Universe Besides Our Own?

#7

Post by bearnard00 »


I found a month ago that the Earth-like planet was found. I`ve heard there are exist many of such exoplanets that remind Earth. So I assume there is a possibility that there is life on some of these planets or atleast some forms of life.
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Re: What Makes You Think Life May Exist In The Universe Besides Our Own?

#8

Post by bearnard00 »


Also, I` ve read an article about Ariel space telescope. The mission is dedicated to surveying planets found beyond our solar system, otherwise known as exoplanets or extrasolar planets, in order to study the formation and evolution of their atmospheres. So lets see what this mission may dicover us
https://www.skyrora.com/blog/tag/space-innovations
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Re: What Makes You Think Life May Exist In The Universe Besides Our Own?

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Post by yobbo89 »


Ozypic wrote: Fri Mar 12, 2021 9:22 pm Yep just the numbers says it all... there has to be heaps. Its just the distance that will probably always be the problem... but then where did lawyers and politician's come from ? I worked in the steelworks here for 45 yrs and some of the workers looked a bit iffy....
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Re: What Makes You Think Life May Exist In The Universe Besides Our Own?

#10

Post by Star Dad »


The fact that life on earth - carbon based life - is so easily created convinces me beyond all doubt that life exists on other worlds. And mind, I'm not saying that our form of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen life is the only kind - there are probably other elements that could combine. The chemistry is so simple and add a bit of an electrical storm and the result is a self replicating chain of molecules which are the precursors to life. As to the reason we haven't heard from any other intelligent life - could it be that our galaxy is just now "waking" up with intelligent life? I posit that we are actually about 1700 years behind the curve. Hero (ancient Rome) had crafted a working steam engine, but like so many inventors, he had the parts made but died before he could assemble them (the plans were never written down). Imagine if he had completed the work - we'd all be speaking Latin and we would not have lost 1700 years worth advancement. So if we conclude that we are "average" in our evolution and scientific accomplishments, which took 4 billion years to culminate, then most of our galaxy would also just now be awakening. There should be, by pessimistic probabilities, at least four other civilizations capable of radio communication in our galaxy. We are certainly not the only life sustaining planet... we are just a mediocre planet revolving around a mediocre star in a rather small sized galaxy in a local system that is of average size. Our water moons have the greatest chance of sustaining active life. But there is also the possibility that life is on Mars as we live. The Viking Landers in the 1970s carried an experiment to determine if microbial life exists and indeed the initial tests were positive. NASA, et al, have never repeated the tests-and I have asked why there is no experiment aboard Curiosity or Perseverance to which the reply was basically, we are not going to search for living organisms. Methinks politics is at play here. BTW - those test have been repeated hundreds of times on Earth and there has never been a false positive or false negative. I, personally, am convinced that Mars is host to microbial life. Here's the link to the paper I refer to on Martian life:https://gillevin.com/Mars/Astrobiol_Pap ... Straat.pdf
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Re: What Makes You Think Life May Exist In The Universe Besides Our Own?

#11

Post by bearnard00 »


I might be wrong but I`ve got an idea that we can find some forms of life on Mars. As you all may know Mars has water (to be more accurate ice). So we can assume that some forms of life can be found in that ice.
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Re: What Makes You Think Life May Exist In The Universe Besides Our Own?

#12

Post by GCoyote »


bearnard00 wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 12:59 pm I might be wrong but I`ve got an idea that we can find some forms of life on Mars. As you all may know Mars has water (to be more accurate ice). So we can assume that some forms of life can be found in that ice.
No, we cannot. We can pose a hypothesis and then design experimental missions to test it. The initial Viking lander tests for life were inconclusive precisely because we did not have an understanding of the complexity of Martian soil chemistry. Our assumptions lead to test designs that could not handle the actual conditions on the surface of another planet. Having a whole planet tell you that you are wrong is a great learning experience and lead to the much more rigorous program of exploration we are now witnessing.

The ongoing research programs on Mars should provide us with a sound understanding of the planet's geology and physical chemistry. Knowing that will permit us to examine the full suite of evidence not only about the possible existence of life in the present day but also to look back into the planet's history for fossil evidence. Mars is just alien enough that we should not assume that we know what Martian life would look like.

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Re: What Makes You Think Life May Exist In The Universe Besides Our Own?

#13

Post by bearnard00 »


GCoyote wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 3:34 pm
bearnard00 wrote: Wed Mar 17, 2021 12:59 pm I might be wrong but I`ve got an idea that we can find some forms of life on Mars. As you all may know Mars has water (to be more accurate ice). So we can assume that some forms of life can be found in that ice.
No, we cannot. We can pose a hypothesis and then design experimental missions to test it. The initial Viking lander tests for life were inconclusive precisely because we did not have an understanding of the complexity of Martian soil chemistry. Our assumptions lead to test designs that could not handle the actual conditions on the surface of another planet. Having a whole planet tell you that you are wrong is a great learning experience and lead to the much more rigorous program of exploration we are now witnessing.

The ongoing research programs on Mars should provide us with a sound understanding of the planet's geology and physical chemistry. Knowing that will permit us to examine the full suite of evidence not only about the possible existence of life in the present day but also to look back into the planet's history for fossil evidence. Mars is just alien enough that we should not assume that we know what Martian life would look like.

Keep flying. Keep digging. Keep testing. Keep analyzing. Keep learning.
I`ve read recently about Rosalind Franklin mission the first ever UK-built Mars rover. The main purpose of that mission is to search for some forms of life on the surface of Mars. The launch is scheduled for 2022. I guess that we still have a chance to find something on the surface of the red planet.
https://www.skyrora.com/blog/uk-space-news
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Re: What Makes You Think Life May Exist In The Universe Besides Our Own?

#14

Post by Butterfly Maiden »


I don't know all the technicalities of what is involved for extra terrestrial lifeforms to possibly exist elsewhere. There are much more knowledgeable members on here to fully discuss that aspect of it, so I will read their conclusions with interest.

It would be nice to think that we are not alone in the Universe (whatever forms they may take). The extreme distances involved in trying to discover other life, and the time it takes to travel further out from our Solar System in order to do so, are most probably the biggest stumbling blocks for us.
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Re: What Makes You Think Life May Exist In The Universe Besides Our Own?

#15

Post by GCoyote »


bearnard00 wrote: Thu Mar 18, 2021 9:48 am...
I`ve read recently about Rosalind Franklin mission the first ever UK-built Mars rover. The main purpose of that mission is to search for some forms of life on the surface of Mars. The launch is scheduled for 2022. I guess that we still have a chance to find something on the surface of the red planet.
https://www.skyrora.com/blog/uk-space-news
It's more a continuation of the current line of multinational research. From the article you linked to: "The overall objective of this mission is to investigate the presence and history of water on Mars to consider the question of whether or not life either has existed or still does exist there."

Water is the only (currently) known working fluid for life. It provides the mechanism for moving nutrients from one area to another. By excavating the Martian surface, researchers can examine material deposited by water flows over a wider range of geological time and (hopefully) a wider range of chemical and environmental conditions. Certain mineral deposits on Earth are known to be associated with biology. The hope is that finding similar minerals on Mars will provide important clues about possible Martian biology.
Any metaphor will tear if stretched over too much reality.
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Re: What Makes You Think Life May Exist In The Universe Besides Our Own?

#16

Post by bearnard00 »


I assume that some forms of live can live on some of these exoplanets that were discivered by scientists recently but I don`t expect that there live something intelligent like human life though.
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Re: What Makes You Think Life May Exist In The Universe Besides Our Own?

#17

Post by notFritzArgelander »


bearnard00 wrote: Thu Mar 25, 2021 3:32 pm I assume that some forms of live can live on some of these exoplanets that were discivered by scientists recently but I don`t expect that there live something intelligent like human life though.
The best estimate I know of puts the frequency of intelligent technological life in this Galaxy at about 1 or 2. Similarly for M31.
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