Is There A Chance We Will Ever See Other Lifeforms?

              

Figure was obtained from: http://www.hep.shef.ac.uk/cartwright/phy111/summary12.html

            Finding the figure above as well as contemplating more what goes into making a planet that can support life is more meagre then what I may have assumed in my last post. Knowing that life is made from  atoms which only represent 4% of the entire universe was a shock for me. I was naïve in assuming that there would be life around every corner, my last post over simplified the universe.  This however does not stop me for thinking that there is life elsewhere; carbon is the basic building blocks for life on Earth and through fusion of He carbon can be made. This leads me to believe that we are not the only planet to contain carbon.  I found a quote from Emma Bakes who is a principal investigator with NASA’s Ames Research Center and with SETI Institute. She reaffirms my feeling of life in the universe when she says “You have the chemical foundation spread throughout the entire galaxy” she also states “We’re not special. I would bet if I had a million dollars—I would bet that life is widespread across the universe.” So even though there is only 4% of the universe that is composed of matter experts as well as I believe in life in the Universe.

                There are other factors that one has to take into account one that makes me think that Earth is more special then I may have thought. There is the fact that we need an atmosphere to steady our average temperature, the concept of plate tectonics, and Earth’s magnetic field.  The size of the planet, sun and moon are also important. All of these factors have to be present in order to sustain life.  We are the only planet of our solar system that this occurred for and I am still optimistic that all of these processes may be present and at the right time for life. I have also come to the conclusion that in order to find life we will have to look in our neighborhood as opposed to a different country.  

Emma Bakes’s comment obtained from: http://www.spacedaily.com/news/life-04zw.html

The Vastness of the Universe

It is not yet known if there is life on other planets or moon systems, yet alone intelligent life. I feel that finding life elsewhere is a challenge for present day Astronomers even after all of the technological advances. This battle comes from the sheer size of the universe. Within our own galaxy there are more than 10 billion stars, and it is 100,000 light years in diameter. Thus, it would take a long time to reach stars in our galaxy let alone other galaxies. Also when astronomers use telescopes to see these stars we are not seeing them as they are presently but we are looking into the past of that star. If a star is 100,000 light years away when we see it we see it 100,000 years earlier. This means there could be life on the planets that orbit this star presently but we will only see it when enough time has passed. I believe that there is life somewhere in the universe we may just never be able to prove it.

Sasha