Is there life on other planets?

Question

Is there life on other planets?

Answer 1

The Drake Equation say there should be life on other planets but the Fermi Paradox says that life is too rare for there to be life on other planets, so i think you should just believe whatever you want to believe and let that be the end of that.

Answer 2

lots of people don't think its possible, but scientists are able to find traces of oxygen and H2O in some planets so i think its possible. they also say that the reason earth has life is bcuz of the right temp from the distance between earth and the sun... they say mars is too far so its too cold and venus is too close so its too hot... they also found a planet in another galaxy a couple of years ago but with oxygen and solid land, but the way it rotates causes one side to get light form the sun all day and the other gets no light all day... something like that.. so u never know... there could be life, it just doesnt have to be super intelligent life

Answer 3

If you're referring to Mars, there are definitely some forms of microbial life deep in the martial soil. Sun is just one of more than 100 billion stars in our galaxy and there are billions of galaxies each with over 100 hundred of billions stars. So the Sun can't be the only star with planets that have life! Planets orbiting other stars have been discovered but still no signs of life on them.

Answer 4

The short answer is: No one knows.

No human being has ever come in contact with any extraterrestrial being.

But what are the chances of any other life existing in the universe? Looking at it mathematically, the chances are great.

So let's look  at it from square one.

Leaving religion well out of it, let's calculate the chances of alien existence. There are roughly 400 billion (400 000 000 000) stars in the Milky Way alone. The estimated number of all the galaxies in the universe, calculated by the pictures from the Hubble Space Telescope and multiplied times left out space coverage, is somewhere around a hundred billion (100 000 000 000). Multiplying the estimates, we come up with 4 × 10²² or forty sextillion stars estimated in the universe.

Here is where it gets tricky. No one has yet been able to calculate how many stars actually have planets orbiting them (how many stars are in solar systems). If each of the stars had the same number of planets on average as our sun, there are 3 200 000 000 000 planets in our galaxy alone, multiplied by the number of galaxies makes the total estimated number of planets in the universe 3.2 × 10²³ (3 200 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 - three septillion, two hundred  sextillion).

The number is gastronomical. That's what astronomy is all about. So now we have a buhmillion planets. How many of them actually have the basic fundamental attributes to sustain life as we know it?

Let's first look at what those attributes are:

    * Running water

    * Temperate, stable climate

    * Rich amounts of carbon dioxide and/or oxygen

    * Natural source of nutrients

    * Proportioned atmosphere

    * Stable amounts of gravity

Each of these criteria are equally important. Running, liquid water is needed. No known types of life can survive only with frozen water. Mars is a keen example. Although there are rich amounts of water on the north and south poles of the planet, no plant or animal life could survive because this water is frozen. Climate is also very important. If a planet is too hot, then life will literally boil. If the planet is too cold, the planet will be a frozen wasteland. So far, the best estimate we have on the temperatures range of a planet needed to sustain life is -50 to 30 degrees centigrade. A stable climate is needed as well.. There are a couple factors that are needed for a stable climate:

    * Slight axial tilt

    * Non-elliptical orbit

    * Fairly thick (yet not too thick) atmosphere

If the axial tilt is too great, then the seasons will be too extreme. Summer would be extremely hot, and winter would be extremely cold, thus subjecting life to extreme temperature changes over a course of very little time. And elliptical orbit can cause problems too. And elliptical orbit is where a planet takes an oval orbit around its local star other than a simple circle. Pluto has an elliptical orbit. Earth does as well, but it is very slight. Too slight to notice. When a planet has an elliptical orbit, it can get very far away from the local star, and then comes closer, making for a unstable climate. Atmosphere makes a huge difference as well. If an atmosphere is too thick then the rays of their sun will be trapped in the planet, warming it up. If it is too thin, the sun’s heat will not be trapped enough, and as a result, when the planet is not facing the sun, then the planet will be extremely cold, making for yet again, an unstable climate. The atmosphere has to be just right so it absorbs the right amount of sunlight, and releases the right amount of sunlight. If the atmosphere is nonexistent, then not only is there a huge difference in temperature on the planet, but there are also no gasses in the planet such as oxygen and carbon dioxide.

Stable amount of gravity is also key. Life adapts to gravity, and their evolved bodies and organs are made specially for the amount of gravity on the planet. If the gravity changes often, usually in the case of a double-planet, then these organs would fail, and the organism probably wouldn’t evolve in the first place.

Earth is the perfect example of all of these criteria being met down to the last detail. It is the only observed planet in the universe known to have met all of these criteria. We have observed about 307 exo-planets, but none of them are known to have all of these criteria met.

But that is only 307 of approximately three septillion. If the next, 308. planet we discovered was to meet this criteria, that would put the current, estimated ratio to ⅟₃₀₈ or 0,324675325% of all planets.

If this was the case, there would be 1,03896104 × 10²² or 10 389 610 400 000 000 000 000 (ten sextillion, three hundred eighty-nine quintillion, six hundred ten quadrillion, four hundred  trillion). acceptable planets. So the number is still HUGE. But the ⅟₃₀₈ ratio we used isn't neccessarily exact.

Also, life isn't only capable of existing on planets, but also on moons. There are some moons even in our solar system that follow the basic criteria life would need.

Now in some cases, not all life needs oxygen or carbon dioxide. A while back, a probe dropped off a colony of bacteria on the moon. After a course of a few months, we went back to pick up these bacteria. Although the size of the colony had decreased by 70%, the bacteria did reproduce. Thus proving that certain types of bacteria can survive anywhere.

Life forms that can survive under such harsh conditions, where we could never imagine life could exist, are called extremophiles.

Answer 5

The best and only reasonable solution to the Fermi Paradox is that we are the ONLY show in the town... sorry kid. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermi_parad...

But if you just HAVE to believe in ETs and UFOs, the antichrist has something special in store for you. Google/youtube: "Project Bluebeam"

'Aliens' just in time for 2012! Many will be fooled...

Later, ask yourself how we knew in advance:

2 Thessalonians 2:10-13

Answer 6

Nothing has yet been proven.  That's not to say that there isn't "life" because I'm a believer in the fact that there may just be "life" on other planets.  There are just too many stars (and possible planets) for there not to be a presence somewhere.  However, to determine it's substance, I'll leave that to the scientists.

However, I don't believe that there will be "intelligent" life (Unlike SETI).  I feel that it may just be microbes.  But "life" is "life", microbes, or not, I believe in the possibility.    

Answer 7

I think there is because when you think of it,its a bit daft having only 1 planet with life force, and not the rest.you never know the so called aliens may have already landed on our planet and have taken life form so that we cant recognize them, and they are observing us to see how we care for the planet in which we take for granted.

Answer 8

Probably. Not the kind of creatures we're used to seeing here on Earth, but probably those that have different fundamental attributes than ours. Who knows. They may not even be able to survive here on Earth.

Answer 9

probably, think of how insignificant earth is in comparison to the rest of the universe is, i think that it is unlikely that we are the only speck of life in a seemingly infinite universe