Hunting ET: Astrobiology and the quest for extraterrestrial life

The discovery of life elsewhere in the Solar System would 'profoundly change our understanding of where we came from and our place in the cosmos', astrobiologist Lewis Dartnell told Sam Wong ahead of his public lecture on the subject this week

Is there anybody out there? That's the big question scientists are asking in the emerging field of astrobiology. Its practitioners bring together expertise from a variety of disciplines in their quest to determine whether there is life beyond our green and pleasant home planet.

"The question of whether we are alone in the universe or not is something that every single one of us has wondered about at one point," says Lewis Dartnell, an astrobiology researcher at University College London and author of Life In The Universe: A Beginner's Guide. "Whatever the answer, I think it would profoundly change our understanding of where we came from and our place in the cosmos."

At first glance the prospects of finding life elsewhere in our own solar system don't look good, since every planetary body other than our own is either scorching hot or ferociously cold. Then again, we know that on Earth life can flourish in the unlikeliest locations, from polar ice caps to hydrothermal vents reaching 113C.

http://parasearcher.blogspot.com/2009/08/hunting-et-astrobiology-and-quest-for.html




Rec Please, Evidently there is a person who posts here on the science board multiple different names that likes to unrec anyone else posting here just to be nasty. Thanks!

You get a gold star.

otherwise it looks like you wrote it yourself.
(The link is attached to the photo of the earth, I had to hunt for it)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2009/aug/17/alien-life-exobiology-extraterrerstrial

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of the article. Would posting something like "read more" on the blog be a better format?

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks

The link on the last line looked like another embedded link from the article, it wasn't obvious that it was a link to the original article.

beyond a shadow of a doubt will do is knock the theological underpinnings from the earth-centric desert religions.

Even if it's intelligent life, don't expect to be able to communicate with any of it. We can't even communicate with cetaceans, and we share a planetary reference point with them.

Forget those methane breathing cephalopods from Zargon who communicate chemically.

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"la, la, la!" or spin everything around until they can explain the situation "Biblically." And then they will either declare whatever we found to be of the devil or in dire need of salvation, and raise all kinds of money to go evangelize at them. (I read something like that in a sci-fi series, but darned if I can remember which one.)

I was sitting on my porch and saw what i thought was plane on fire (coming towards my condo)..only to see it come towards me and I realized it was a rocket launch..a big huge ball of fire at almost 11 Pm...i tried to find out info on it..as it was basically ignored by Fla media..i only found info on it here:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=adkVjcoNdOXs&refer=us

NASA Launches Kepler Spacecraft in Search of Earth-Like Planets

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By Jeff Bliss []

March 7 (Bloomberg) -- NASA has launched a spacecraft with a mission to help determine something that has been the theme for many Hollywood movies over the years: whether Earth-like planets might exist elsewhere in space.

The 15-foot tall, 2,320-pound Kepler satellite lifted off yesterday at 10:50 p.m. Eastern time atop a Delta II rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida for a three-and- a-half-year mission to find other planets that may support life, according to a NASA statement distributed by PR Newswire.

Kepler carries a photometer, a device made up of 42 highly sensitive digital light sensors that will monitor a patch of 100,000 stars to detect planets that may orbit them. Its findings will be essential in determining the course of future missions looking for extraterrestrial life, said David Koch, Kepler’s deputy principal investigator.

“In terms of finding Earth-like planets, this is the only mission that can do it,” he said.

The launch came 10 days after another NASA satellite failed to reach orbit and crashed into the ocean near Antarctica. NASA officials said the fairing, which covers the satellite during the launch, didn’t come off as expected. The weight of the fairing prevented the satellite from reaching its orbit. Without enough power to carry it into orbit, the satellite plunged back to Earth.

Was camped out in Fl working towards some of my nurse practitioner clinicals, and was lucky enough to be there for it. Must be awesome to have a nice view of the launches! That would be so cool. :)


I am looking forward to the spaceport being built here in New Mexico.

Just got to see the Orion Capsule on the highway the other day, as it went to Holloman Airforce Base.

Just linking to your blog is essentially spamming the board.