Life Elsewhere
Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 11:44 pmThis may have some religious implications, but I do not mean for it to be a solely religious thread. You see, my main interest is astronomy, and I wanted to see what everyone else thought about the possibility of life elsewhere.
Human beings: the pillar of life, the peak of the food chain, the best at adapting, the pinnacle of intelligence. We discover, we search, we question. What defines us from all other life is our ability to ask why, and our yearning to discover. And it is this very concept that has led us to the inevitable question - are we alone? Now of course, for most, when this question flashes through our mind, we think of aliens, the little green bodies, the big eyes and head, the works, but let us put that aside. What about the smallest forms of life, such as bacteria? Just a simple conformation that earth is not the lonely freak of the universe would open a wealth of doors, and a wealth of questions. No life forms have been found anywhere other than earth, but the current hot-beds for potential or once existing life in our solar system are Mars and Jupiter’s ice-encased moon Europa. But let us once again put that aside and look beyond into the dark depths of our universe.
For the purpose of understanding and appreciating the sheer size of our universe, let us take a quick glimpse at the numbers. We are one of 8 planets in our solar system, one of 3 within the so called habitable zone of life (Mars, Earth, and Venus). This basically means that we are not too close to the sun and not too far, for obvious reasons.
Making our solar system complete is our sun, one of billions upon billions of stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way. The closest star, Proxima Centauri of the Alpha Centauri system is a vast 4.22 light years away, meaning that traveling at the speed of light, it would take us 4.22 years to reach it. Each of the billions of stars in our galaxy is a potential solar system like ours. Already, planets have been discovered orbiting other stars.
Our seemingly immense galaxy is only one of the billions and billions of galaxies that are visible. The closest galaxy of course, is Andromeda, approximately 2.9 million light years away. It stands as a stark reminder that even our closest neighbors are unreachable to humans, and most likely never will be.
For me, this concept is disappointing but at the same time encouraging. It means that the odds are overwhelmingly in our favor that we are, in fact, not alone. This all must be taken into consideration at a time when we are not even sure whether or not there is life in our own solar system. If life exists in our speck of solar system, it creates a new meaning for the abundance of life (possibly more intelligent than us) in other places of our universe.
In addition, water, seen as the necessity for all life, is frequently found on other planets and moons. There is even very strong evidence that there is water on our moon. Water seems to be a fairly common occurrence outside of earth and while water does not guarantee life, it is strong indicator that life may exist.
Even on earth, life has time and again proven that it can overcome the harshest environments earth has to offer. The toxic geothermal vents located on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean demonstrate this perfectly. Recently believed to be the place of the creation of all life as we know it, these vents are crawling with different bacteria and creatures. Surrounded by tremendous temperature and pressure, as well as dangerously high levels of toxic gases, life seems to have no problem surviving.
It seems nearly inarguable that there is life in places besides earth. It is against all odds that it doesn’t. Unfortunately for many, this also brings to light the idea that the earth was not had picked to harbor life and therefore is not as unique as we once thought. What this does to religion is devastating, as other questions come to mind. Is there a god for the other planets? What other religions, if any, may exist outside of our own? The whole notion of life being on other planets has the potential to disintegrate religion, and if found, it will be at the very least, damaging. The consequences of discovering life are both good and bad; however, our need to venture onward has reached a point where potential consequences are thrown out in a desperate yearning to find other beings like us.
Human beings: the pillar of life, the peak of the food chain, the best at adapting, the pinnacle of intelligence. We discover, we search, we question. What defines us from all other life is our ability to ask why, and our yearning to discover. And it is this very concept that has led us to the inevitable question - are we alone? Now of course, for most, when this question flashes through our mind, we think of aliens, the little green bodies, the big eyes and head, the works, but let us put that aside. What about the smallest forms of life, such as bacteria? Just a simple conformation that earth is not the lonely freak of the universe would open a wealth of doors, and a wealth of questions. No life forms have been found anywhere other than earth, but the current hot-beds for potential or once existing life in our solar system are Mars and Jupiter’s ice-encased moon Europa. But let us once again put that aside and look beyond into the dark depths of our universe.
For the purpose of understanding and appreciating the sheer size of our universe, let us take a quick glimpse at the numbers. We are one of 8 planets in our solar system, one of 3 within the so called habitable zone of life (Mars, Earth, and Venus). This basically means that we are not too close to the sun and not too far, for obvious reasons.
Making our solar system complete is our sun, one of billions upon billions of stars in our galaxy, the Milky Way. The closest star, Proxima Centauri of the Alpha Centauri system is a vast 4.22 light years away, meaning that traveling at the speed of light, it would take us 4.22 years to reach it. Each of the billions of stars in our galaxy is a potential solar system like ours. Already, planets have been discovered orbiting other stars.
Our seemingly immense galaxy is only one of the billions and billions of galaxies that are visible. The closest galaxy of course, is Andromeda, approximately 2.9 million light years away. It stands as a stark reminder that even our closest neighbors are unreachable to humans, and most likely never will be.
For me, this concept is disappointing but at the same time encouraging. It means that the odds are overwhelmingly in our favor that we are, in fact, not alone. This all must be taken into consideration at a time when we are not even sure whether or not there is life in our own solar system. If life exists in our speck of solar system, it creates a new meaning for the abundance of life (possibly more intelligent than us) in other places of our universe.
In addition, water, seen as the necessity for all life, is frequently found on other planets and moons. There is even very strong evidence that there is water on our moon. Water seems to be a fairly common occurrence outside of earth and while water does not guarantee life, it is strong indicator that life may exist.
Even on earth, life has time and again proven that it can overcome the harshest environments earth has to offer. The toxic geothermal vents located on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean demonstrate this perfectly. Recently believed to be the place of the creation of all life as we know it, these vents are crawling with different bacteria and creatures. Surrounded by tremendous temperature and pressure, as well as dangerously high levels of toxic gases, life seems to have no problem surviving.
It seems nearly inarguable that there is life in places besides earth. It is against all odds that it doesn’t. Unfortunately for many, this also brings to light the idea that the earth was not had picked to harbor life and therefore is not as unique as we once thought. What this does to religion is devastating, as other questions come to mind. Is there a god for the other planets? What other religions, if any, may exist outside of our own? The whole notion of life being on other planets has the potential to disintegrate religion, and if found, it will be at the very least, damaging. The consequences of discovering life are both good and bad; however, our need to venture onward has reached a point where potential consequences are thrown out in a desperate yearning to find other beings like us.
