Futurismic

Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to our own but with a bonus: there are three stars rather than one. It’s also one of the best chances we know in the local area to have a planet similar to Earth capable of developing life like ours.

If any planet were to harbour earth-like life in the three-star system, it would likely be around Alpha Centauri A, which is most similar to the sun. However astronomer Javier Guedes and his coauthors believe that Alpha Centauri B is likely to have terrestrial planets in its habitable region. Based on computer simulations of planet formation, Guedes and his team found that no matter what starting conditions, a terrestrial planet always formed around the star. By studying the ‘wobbles’ the planet causes on its parent star, the team reckon they could find any potential planets within a few years.

[story via Daily Galaxy, image via Solstation]

Related posts

• Potentially life-supporting planet found (0)
• First images from the Large Binocular Telescope (0)
• Detecting vegetation, analyzing atmospheres on extrasolar planets (4)
• Asteroid may hit Mars at end of January (0)
• The debate over "Active SETI" (4)

Although the search for extraterrestrial life in our solar system has focused on Mars for many years (and it still might be found there), increasing attention is now being paid to Jupiter’s moon Europa. That’s because the scientific consensus now is that Europa almost certainly boasts an ocean, hidden beneath a shell of ice.

Life on Earth originated in the ocean. Could life have similarly arisen in Europa’s ocean?

We’ll have to go there to find out. Both NASA and the European Space Agency are actively studying launching a mission to Europa within the next decade, but even before that happens, technologies that could help us explore beneath the ice shell are being tested here on Earth. (Via Universe Today.)

This week–February 11 to 15–researchers are testing the NASA-funded ENDURANCE (Environmentally Non-Disturbing Under-ice Robotic Antarctic Explorer), a robotic probe designed to swim on its own under ice, creating 3D maps of the underwater environment, collecting data on environmental conditions, and taking samples of microbial life. The testing is taking place in Lake Mendota on the campus of the University of Wisconsin, Madison; later this year, the probe will be shipped to Antarctica for tests in permanently frozen Lake Bonney.

Manwhile, a team of U.S., Russian and Asutrian scientists are already heading to Australia to look for life in another Antarctic lake, Lake Untersee. Always covered in ice, Lake Untersee has a pH level closer to that of bleach than regular lake water. It’s also the planet’s single largest natural source of methane. All of these things mean conditions there may well resemble conditions in Europa’s ocean and other locations in the outer solar system.

One question: is life found on Europa European, or Europaen? Copy editors want to know!

(Image: Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech.)

Related posts

• Words for Worlds: What We’re Calling Pluto Now (0)
• The hazards for life on Mars (0)
• The debate over "Active SETI" (4)
• Space video about near earth asteroid missions (0)
• Sailing, sailing, over the bounding interplanetary main (2)

That’s the promising possibility (if you like the idea of extraterrestrial life) raised by the discovery by astronomers at the Carnegie Institution of highly complex organic molecules in the disk of red dust surrounding a young star (one very different from the sun) thought to be in the late stages of planet formation. Observations of light from the star via one of the instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope reveal that the light scattered by the dust disk is very red, matching the spectrum of large organic carbon molecules called tholins that no longer exist on Earth but are hypothesized to have been precursors to the biomolecules that make up living organisms. (Via SpaceDaily.)

The image above is a false-color image of the dust disk surrounding the star, HR 4796A, with the star itself masked to make the disk visible. The inner “hole” in the disk is big enough to swallow our solar system and may have been swept clean of dust by orbiting planets.

(And even though they’re both red, no, there’s no connection between the red dust of HR 4796A and the red rain of Kerala.)

(Image: John Debes.)

Related posts

• The debate over "Active SETI" (4)
• Detecting vegetation, analyzing atmospheres on extrasolar planets (4)
• Alpha Centauri ’should have an Earth-like planet’ (12)
• Words for Worlds: What We’re Calling Pluto Now (0)
• The search for life on Europa begins here on Earth (2)

I’m back! Miss me?

Now that I’m no longer wearing my actor hat and performing eight shows a week of Beauty and the Beast, I’ll be posting regularly again. And what better way to start than with this fascinating article from SEED Magazine about the controversy in SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) circles over whether we should just be passively listening for alien civilizations, or actively announcing our presence.

Those opposed to “active” SETI point out that, in effect, we might just be putting up a big neon sign on the planet that says “Come And Get Us” (or possibly “Good Eats!”) if there’s something nasty out there listening. In fact, David Brin pointed out years ago (in this paper on Xenology: check out the section called “The Great Silence”) that one theory (that originated within science fiction) for why we don’t hear signals from other civilizations is that something hunts down and destroys anybody that start broadcasting.

Check out the article, and for more discussion of it, read this post at the blog that I picked up the link from, the always-interesting Centauri Dreams.

(Image: NASA.)

Related posts

• Detecting vegetation, analyzing atmospheres on extrasolar planets (4)
• Building blocks of life common in other star systems? (1)
• Alpha Centauri ’should have an Earth-like planet’ (12)
• Words for Worlds: What We’re Calling Pluto Now (0)
• The search for life on Europa begins here on Earth (2)

We know there are lots of planets orbiting other stars: we’ve found more than 250 of them already, and we’re getting better at finding them all the time. But the big question is, do any of the obviously plentiful extrasolar planets in the galaxy support life?

So far, we can’t tell: but we’re getting closer to being able to. Dr. Luc Arnold of the CNRS Observatoire de Haute-Provence in France thinks we might be able to tell if an extrasolar planet supports vegetation via a spectral analysis of the light reflected off it, because vegetation absorbs a lot of light around a specific wavelength for use in photosynthesis (on Earth, that’s red light, so this phenomenon is called the Vegetation Red Edge).

We don’t have any Earth or space-based telescopes that are able to carry out spectral analysis fine-grained enough to do this, yet, and even ESA’s Darwin and NASA’s Terrestrial Planet Finder, launching within the next decade or so, won’t be able to–but the next generation of planet-finding spacecraft after that probably will be.

One thing we have managed to do, though, is analyze the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet: a "hot Jupiter" orbiting a star in the constellation Vulpecula. By measuring which wavelengths of light from the planet’s star are absorbed by its atmosphere every time it swings between the star and Earth, University of Texas at Austin astronomer Seth Redfield determined the planet’s atmosphere contains sodium. (Via Universe Today and Universe Today.)

Again, we’re a long way from using the same technique to look for oxygen–a strong indicator of Life As We Know It–in Earth-sized planets’ atmospheres. But it’s likely just a matter of time. (Illustration: S. Redfield/T. Jones/McDonald Observatory.)

#

A Personal Note: I apologize for a lack of posts from me over the past little while. As Paul mentioned in his last Friday Free Fiction post, I’m currently in rehearsal for a professional production of Beauty and the Beast, and it’s taking up most of my time. I hope to still manage an occasional post, though, until the show ends December 30, and resume regular posting in the new year.

Related posts

• Alpha Centauri ’should have an Earth-like planet’ (12)
• The debate over "Active SETI" (4)
• Building blocks of life common in other star systems? (1)
• Words for Worlds: What We’re Calling Pluto Now (0)
• The search for life on Europa begins here on Earth (2)

It’s a tautology to say that Mars isn’t the most friendly environment for human explorers. In addition to the lack of atmosphere, fluctuating temperatures and high levels of cosmic radiation, fierce storms of super-fine Martian dust could present a serious problem for bold pioneers on the Red Planet’s surface. In fact, Mars’ surface is inimical to local lifeforms, too - which is why NASA’s forthcoming Phoenix Lander will be digging beneath the surface in its hunt for indigenous microbial critters.

Related posts

• A one-way ticket to Mars … or even beyond? (0)
• Sun shield developments may allow man to travel to Mars (1)
• Spacesuits designed for comfort (0)
• Space is the place for a resource-rich and peaceful existence (0)
• Space colonisation - Ceres first, Mars second? (5)