Where would alien life most likely be if we found it?
The universe is so unimaginably huge that we don’t even know if it ends. Researchers are looking for life in the universe and to find it, they need to think where it would be? Realistically life could be anywhere, because whatever life there is out there, could’ve evolved to the conditions. The thing is, we can’t look everywhere because our technology limits us, and there is way too much out there. So how do we narrow it down. Take the most reliable ways scientists are using to find life and put them together. Some of these include searching for water, stars’ habitable zones, and oxygen and methane found together. Wherever there are planets that are found to have these traits, there is a higher probability that they have life.
The number one way (in my opinion) that scientists are looking for life, is searching for water. Every known living thing on Earth needs water. Based on this, any life that we find, should need water. Researchers have been looking at Mars a lot because of the dried up riverbeds and permafrost (ground whether its rock or soil, that remains frozen for two or more years) that they have found. However, the search for planets, have lead scientists to focus in on one of Jupiter’s moons, Europa. Europa is a moon that is pretty much a ball of very thick ice, but this ball of ice might not be so thick in one place. According to Corey S. Powell, writer of Europa or Bust, “Researchers working with the Hubble Space Telescope sighted a huge vapour cloud hovering over Europa’s southern hemisphere. Evidently liquid water is able to break through the crust and blow into space, meaning that either there is water close to the surface or there are very deep cracks in the ice.” Using these cracks or the thinner ice we could see if a probe could get down into the water to see whether there’s life. Getting through this ice would be an incredible feat and if scientists even managed to do it there might not be life. All this relates to another way researchers are looking for life.
Europa is 780 million kilometres from the sun. The suns habitable zone starts roughly 142 million kilometres away. Earth is the only planet that is in the habitable zone which is 150 million kilometres away from the sun. My point is that not even Mars is in the habitable zone and it is only around 225 million kilometres away from Earth. Europa is much, much farther. What is a stars habitable zone? It is the next best way for finding life, and it really narrows down where life would most likely be. A stars habitable zone has to do with water and Goldilocks. Water too close to a star will dry up, but water too far away will freeze like it has on Europa. However, water at a perfect distance from its star, is just right, (just like Goldilocks’ porridge) and it will remain a liquid. As I said before, water is super important and so, scientists have found a way to tell whether a planet is in their stars habitable zone using space telescopes like Kepler and TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite). Jamie Shreeve wrote “Like Kepler, TESS looks for a slight dimming in the luminosity of a star when a planet passes–transits–in front of it. TESS is scanning nearly the whole sky, with the goal of identifying about 50 exoplanets with rocky surfaces like Earth’s that could be investigated by more powerful telescopes coming on line.” With telescopes like these, we can identify what planets are in their stars habitable zone, but until scientists build a spacecraft that can reach these planets we don’t know exactly what is there, although we do know where to look once we’ve gotten there.
The last method that I found to narrow down where life would be is by using the chemical reaction of methane and oxygen. Jamie Shreeve writes “Oxygen is a flagrantly promiscuous molecule–it’ll react and bond with just about everything on a planet’s surface. So if we can find evidence of it accumulating in an atmosphere, it will raise some eyebrows. Even more telling would be a biosignature composed of oxygen and other compounds related to life on Earth. Most convincing of all would be to find oxygen along with methane, because those two gases from living organisms destroy each other. Finding them both would mean there must be constant replenishment.” So far, researchers have not found these two gases together, but like Jamie Shreeve said, if we find oxygen and methane together, there would be a high chance that its because of life.
To answer the question of where life would most likely be if we found it, I would say, find a planet that has water, that is in its stars habitable zone, and that has oxygen and another gas, particularly methane, existing together. If there is a planet out there with all of these conditions then it’s very possible some form of life exists on that planet. Even though the chances are that this is where life is, we can never be sure, and according to the article The search is on: new missions and discoveries on Earth within our solar system and beyond are bringing us closer than ever to finding alien life on other planets, “John Priscu is similarly open-minded about the appearance of alien life. “I bet we have looked it straight in the face already,” he says, “but didn’t know what we were looking for.””
Bibliography:
Abbasi, Jennifer. “The search is on: new missions and discoveries on Earth within our solar system and beyond are bringing us closer than ever to finding alien life on other planets.” Popular Science, Oct. 2011, p. 37+. Gale In Context: Science, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A267026292/GPS?u=43riss&sid=GPS&xid=c1eb2e9c. Accessed 9 Sept. 2019.
Barone, Jennifer. “Are we alone? A NASA telescope cranks up the search for alien planets.” Science World/Current Science, 6 May 2013, p. 14+. Gale In Context: Science, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A328850579/GPS?u=43riss&sid=GPS&xid=397a9362. Accessed 9 Sept. 2019.
Powell, Corey S. “Europa or bust.” Popular Science, Sept. 2015, p. 54+. Gale In Context: Science, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A426149579/GPS?u=43riss&sid=GPS&xid=03718137. Accessed 9 Sept. 2019.
Shreeve, Jamie. “WHO’S OUT THERE? NEW DISCOVERIES REVEAL IT’S ALMOST CERTAIN WE’RE NOT ALONE IN THE UNIVERSE. HERE’S HOW WE’RE SEARCHING FOR LIFE-AND TRYING TO MAKE CONTACT.” National Geographic, Mar. 2019, p. 42+. Gale In Context: Science, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A583382035/GPS?u=43riss&sid=GPS&xid=7acc4cd7. Accessed 9 Sept. 2019.
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Reflections
This was really interesting . I love learning about space and aliens their so interesting. the way you wrote it was easy to follow.
I liked how your question is about aliens because people don’t know that much about aliens.
I think there is life on other planets like us, and I don’t think the odds are very low.
I think we just lack the skills to discover it.
There’s a lot of planets and galaxies in the universe, so life is not close, but I think it’s a long way from here.
Really well done, you have great flow and your quotes are interesting and fit in nicely. The information is engaging and presented well. Overall it is really well done and enjoyable to read.
Do you think we will find aliens in your lifetime?
I think that there is a possibility (and I hope that we do because that would be cool). If we do find life in my lifetime it probably won’t be intelligent and until we get better technology, it will be very difficult to find.
Such a great wonder post, Sam. I really like how you have found a question that is meaningful to you. You have some great sub-questions to lead you to address your essential question. You have done a great job sharing the digital tools you used and citing your sources. Good debrief on your product and process as well! I like how you included direct quotes in your explanations. I also like how you responded to the comments made on your blog. Awesome work!