Scientists are expanding the search for extraterrestrial life?
and they've set their sights on some very unearthly planets?
and it turns out there are LOTS of them! But if we DO find life
on other planets, there's a strong chance the general public
will never
hear about it.
NASA scientists are looking for cold "Super-Earths," which are
giant, "snowball" planets that astronomers have spied on the
outskirts of faraway solar systems and which could
potentially support some kind of life. Such planets are
plentiful; experts estimate that one-third of all solar systems
contain super-Earths.
Astronomer Scott Gaudi says, "We know there are a lot of
super-Earths out there, and the next generation of
telescopes will be even better at spotting them?and we will
almost certainly be able to detect these habitable planets if
they exist?A more worrisome question is, if these planets
have life on them, how would we know it? We have a hard
enough time trying to figure out where there's life on Europa
[a moon of Jupiter], let alone something that's hundreds of
light years away."
Despite the name, a super-Earth has little in common with
the Earth that we know, other than the fact it is has a solid
surface. A super-Earth is covered with ice, and may have a
much thicker atmosphere than Earth?s. But researchers think
they may have a liquid ocean that supports life.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has discovered carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet orbiting another star.
This is an important step along the trail of finding the
chemical biotracers of
extraterrestrial life as we know it.
The Jupiter-sized planet, called HD 189733b, is too hot for
life. But the Hubble observations are a proof-of-concept
demonstration that the basic chemistry for life can be
measured on planets orbiting other stars. Organic compounds
can also be a by-product of life processes, and their
detection on an Earth-like planet may someday provide the
first evidence of life beyond Earth.
Previous observations of HD 189733b by Hubble and the
Spitzer Space Telescope found water vapor. Earlier this year,
Hubble astronomers reported that they found
methane
in the planet's atmosphere. Is this planet ALSO suffering
from global warming? NASA is going to explore that next:
Swain plans to search for molecules in the atmospheres of
other exoplanets. He also plans to use them to study
changes that may be present in exoplanet atmospheres to
learn something about the weather on these distant worlds.
But if NASA does discover that alien life is real (and maybe
even
visiting
us), will they keep it a secret? In the December 22nd edition
of the Denver Examiner, Jeff Peckman quotes former Swiss
delegate to the ESA (European Space Agency) Peter Creola
as saying, "?You cannot unconditionally trust NASA?I always
found it astonishing that sightings of silent crafts, which are
obviously not bound to our gravitational laws, are being
ignored by science?at least officially."
Meanwhile, the wave of UFO sightings in Australia that took place
this summer continues?and this time, the UFO was spotted
on a Google map! In the December 11th edition of the Daily
Telegraph, Brett McKeehan quotes a local resident who
spotted the craft when he was Googling the place where he
lives as saying, "I live in the street on the corner and it has a
beautiful view of the harbor. I was just trying to get a look
on Google when I saw it. It just caught my eye?I couldn't
get back to bed. I thought it was a UFO straight away." To
see the Google image,
click here.
Art credit: gimp-savvy.com
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