Do you think there really could be other life forms on another planet?

Question

just wondering...

Answer 1

SURE.

Check this out...

Our Sun is a star.

It has lots of planets orbiting around it.

We happen to live on one of the planets

which is conveniently circling the Sun at

just the right distance so that it is not to

hot and not to cold. Plus, our planet

happens to have a very dense core and

it gravity is therefore strong enough to

retain asmospheric gases very well.

Now look out into the dark sky on an evening

with no smoke or clouds in the air. You will see

zillions of other stars up there...More than 200

Billion within our Galaxy, the Milky Way, alone.

Each of those stars might have bunches of

planets with moons orbiting around them just

like our Sun has.

Beyond our Galaxy there are thousands and thousands

of other galaxies and each one of them has billions of

additional stars which also can have lots of planets

orbiting around them.

So the total number of actual stars and planets out there

is a gigantic number and the probability that one, or more

than one, might be set up kind of like our Earth in just the right

distance from its star, and with a heavy core retaining

all kinds of beneficial gases. That is the begining of what

it takes to get life (as we understand it) going.

So many places out there could have green vegetation growing on their surfaces.

Many places out there could have free flowing water on the surface with even various kinds of fish species living in it.

The probability, however, that you might have a FRANK,

JENNIFER, JOE, or SUE ELLEN out there watching our

TV broadcasts, and planning to drop by for a visit is rather

remote. You must consider the immense distances involved and take that into account. Remember there are Six Trillion Miles in 1 LIGHT YEAR.

Now go to this Site and view our Universe to begin to see

what I am talking about...

http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com

Cheers,

Zah

Answer 2

The best and most reasonable solution to the Fermi Paradox is that we are the only show in town.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_parad...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equat...

But if you just HAVE to belive in "aliens" they have something special in store for you:

Google/youtube: "Project Bluebeam"

"Aliens" just in time for 2012!

Just do NOT accept this ever:

http://www.verichipcorp.com/

Answer 3

there's a lot of things that are 'possible', but let's stick with what we know and what we don't.  If you start saying, even quite reasonably, that intelligent life could be common in the Universe, BAM!  Five minutes later you have a line of protesters walking up and down the sidewalk carrying bibles. Ten minutes later we are surrounded by guys in tinfoil hats.

(i guess it takes longer to fold a tinfoil hat then to find your bible... dunno)

Answer 4

Show me the ET... heh heh

until then no. so far we haven't seen any outside humans. And we have some powerful telescopes, satellites.

You think we would have seen someone else if they were there or in our available scopes, or we were ALLOWED to know.

At this point, no I don't. but I also think it would be next to impossible to get to the furthese outreachs of what we have, too much closer to the sun we get blinded or we burn up much further away and we and all we know and can make and we/it freezes...

So its all speculative and personal opin here.

And that my friend is my answer and I'm sticking to it.

NOPE.

Answer 5

There have been life forms on the Moon.  We put 12 guys there, and countless bacteria.  Some are probably still there.

There's fairly good evidence that life started on Earth - not conclusive, but pretty good.  The elements of life are common in the Universe.  Planets appear common around stars.  One estimate is that 10% to 20% of stars have planets. With hundreds of billions of stars in the Milky Way, there should be tens of billions of planets.  Even the most pessimistic estimates have one in a million habitable planets with life.  So that's thousands of inhabited planets in the Milky Way.  So far, we just know of one: the Earth.

Answer 6

I am certain there is life on other planets somewhere, and most likely even intelligent life here and there. The universe is far too big and complex and diverse to have created life on just one obscure and minor planet such as ours.

Answer 7

Sure its possible.  There are lots of planets out there.  Even though only a tiny percentage have any realistic chance of ever developing life, a tiny percentage of billions of worlds is still a large number.  Unfortunately most worlds are likely only to develop bacteria and not much else.  Earth had only bacteria for most of its history.  Its only been in the last 700 million years or so that we have had advanced life.  .  Here is a list of 10 prerequisites a world should have to develop complex life.

1. correct size. Too large= too much atmosphere and no life. Too small = no atmosphere and no life

2. correct orbital position. Earth is in the sun's habitable zone. It receives sufficient energy to develop oceans of liquid water. No water=no life.

3. Earth has a moon. A fairly large one which is the result of a chance collision with a mars sized planet. Without a moon the Earths temperature extremes would be such that life would probably be impossible

4. Earth is made of heavy elements. Many galaxies are too element poor to allow the development of planets.

5. Earth is far enough from the center of the galaxy to avoid the almost constant chance of sterilization.

6. Earth developed a magnetic field thanks to its iron core. Without that life could never develop due to the solar radiation sterilizing the surface.

7. Amazing luck: there are no nearby supergiant stars to supernova. No gamma ray bursters in the neighborhood. No major asteroid impacts since the precambrian and a useful impact at the end of the mesozoic without which we would not exist. Somehow our ancestors survived the dozen or so major extinctions that have nearly killed all life on earth.

8. Having a Jupiter sized planet where Jupiter should be. None of the new solar systems we have discovered seem to have this feature and they will be lifeless. Some of their Jupiters seem to have migrated to the inner system where they probably destroyed any inner rocky planets. Jupiters defend the inner planet against most asteroid impacts due to the strength of their gravitational pull.

9. Correct star: To have life you need a very stable star with a reasonable lifetime and a reasonably sized habitable zone. In our system of classification only G class stars are ideal for this although its possible that some F and K stars could work. Still stellar type seriously limits the possibilities for life bearing worlds.

10. On earth it seems to have required two super iceages called snowball earth events, each almost 100% fatal to life, to produce the conditions for Eukaryote cells. If this is common the chances for intelligent life elsewhere is reduced alarmingly.

I could probably come up with several more of these, but that would require some effort and at the moment I'm suffering from the lethargy that comes after the noon meal.  Americans really should adopt the Mexican siesta.  Such a civilized custom.  Naturally I would expect to be paid for my time during the siesta.

The drake equation, if the right numbers are inserted, gives an utterly unreasonable number of alien civililzations.  Drake enthusiasts ignore most of the limiters I have provided you.  As a result, their results are seriously unreliable.  I assure you that intelligent life is RARE.

Answer 8

Yes, and also intelligent forms in our time. Please check the Drake equation. It uses probability, and the results are amazing in just on our galaxy.

Answer 9

Without a doubt there is life outside of our planet.

My understanding is that the most common forms of life would be types of bacteria. The least common would be intelligent multi-cellular organisms.

Unfortunately, (or perhaps fortunately), we are separated by huge distances that prevent direct communication, or even awareness of each others presence. Even with recent advances in detection and analysis of exoplanets, very few appear to be able to support any form of complex life.

And I wouldn't be surprised if the upcoming analysis of ice retrieved from Mars contains fragments of simple, single cell organisms.