Extremophiles: Life on other planets?

Posted on April 17, 2023 by reachforthestarsbysam

Within our Earth, in some of the tiniest cracks and crevices of the terrain, exist micro-organisms that are able to survive in the harshest environments the planet has to offer. Whether it be in the underwater volcanic vents where temperatures reach up to 700 ° F, or the cracks of the ice at the poles where temperatures go down to -112 º F, there are these extremophiles that are thriving in the, well, extremes. While these micro-organisms are incredibly interesting to study here on Earth because of the variety of locations they can be found in, they are even more exciting to think about side the realm of Earth: on the other planets of the Solar System and Galaxy.

I guess it all depends on what you are looking for when you search for “aliens” or “other life” in the solar system, but in my opinion, it is an incredibly feasible possibility that extremophiles exist on other planets. Venus is a heavily-sulfureted planet, so many acidophiles could thrive on its surface and in its atmosphere. The icy landscape of Europa could be home to some psychrophiles that thrive in the freezing temperatures. It is incredibly exciting to think of this type of life on other planets both in our solar system but also throughout the universe, and how exciting it is that these species could evolve into more advanced life forms and become the “aliens” that people search so hard for.

Enjoy this picture of this cute little guy 🙂

Information can be so HOT and COLD! But these are just the extremes  🙂

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The Drake Equation

Posted on April 17, 2023 by zws42
Source

The Drake equation is a mathematical formula used to estimate the number of potential intelligent civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy. It was first proposed by astronomer Frank Drake in 1961, and has since become a widely used tool in the search for extraterrestrial life.

The equation takes into account several factors that are believed to influence the development of intelligent life, including the number of stars in the galaxy, the fraction of those stars that have planets, the likelihood of life arising on those planets, the fraction of those planets where intelligent life develops, and the average lifespan of an intelligent civilization.

While the Drake equation is not an exact calculation, it provides a framework for thinking about the potential number of intelligent species in the universe. By adjusting the values of each factor, scientists can explore different scenarios and estimate the probability of finding other civilizations.

One of the most interesting aspects of the Drake equation is that it highlights the role of probability and uncertainty in the search for extraterrestrial life. While we know a great deal about the universe and the conditions necessary for life, there is still much we don’t know. The Drake equation reminds us that the search for intelligent life is a complex endeavor that we only partially understand. In order to get a more accurate estimate, we will have to find ways to expand our knowledge of the Universe.

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The Drake Equation

Posted on April 17, 2023 by sydneyastr2110

The idea of life on other planets has always been a hot topic. An entire genre has been developed to showcase aliens stemming from human imagination. This is usually pseudoscience, but it does beg the question: are aliens real? While we have never contacted or found evidence of other civilizations, there is a way to predict the likelihood of humans being the only civilization in the universe and being able to contact other civilizations.

This ability to predict comes from the Drake Equation which was created by Frank Drake in 1961. His equation, as shown in the image below, includes factors which are relevant to the ability to contact other civilizations. The basic concept of the equation is to “calculate the number of civilizations capable of interstellar communication that are currently sharing the Milky Way with us,” (textbook, 715). There is more information about specific variables in the textbook in Section 24.4. Due to our inability to get accurate values for all the variables involved, we cannot determine an answer. You can see the specific factors below. However, this equation is useful in seeing the factors of being able to communicate with other civilizations.

Image Credit: University of Rochester in NASA Exoplanet Exploration article

The equation has not changed, but exoplanet discoveries have allowed a better understanding of the topic of other planets. Using the equation and exoplanet data, scientists predicted that the probability of humans being the only civilization ever is lower than one in 10 billion trillion. The scientists, Adam Frank and Woodruff Sullivan, have developed an archaeological form of Drake’s equation which is shown below the original equation. From this they explain that the distances between civilizations could mean that we may never contact another civilization even though the likelihood of others existing is very large. Their findings and more details can be found here. Frank explained the significance of the equation and their new adaptations, “our results imply that our evolution has not been unique and has probably happened many times before.”

Going back to the question concerning if aliens are real, this research shows that it is incredibly likely that there have been other advanced civilizations. Due to our short existence and immense distances, we may never communicate with another advanced civilization. As for me, these new advancements in describing the likelihood of other civilizations have me convinced that aliens are real, even though we may never have proof.

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Blog8

Posted on April 15, 2023 by lucasliu6

seager equation

The Seager Equation, an innovative idea conceived by esteemed astrophysicist Dr. Sara Seager, presents a fresh perspective in the search for habitable exoplanets and alien life. Diverging from the well-established Drake Equation, which predicts the number of communicative civilizations, the Seager Equation hones in on the abundance of exoplanets with detectable biosignature gases—a hint of life that extends beyond solely intelligent beings.

Accounting for factors such as the fraction of observed planets located within their host star’s habitable zone and the probability of identifying biosignature gases, the Seager Equation offers a focused framework for estimating the number of planets bearing detectable life markers. As a result, this directs the distribution of vital resources and observation time in astrobiological research.

The thought-provoking implications of the Seager Equation are further amplified by advancements in telescope technology and observation methods. As our capacity to explore the cosmos expands, this groundbreaking equation challenges conventional ideas of habitability, inspiring the scientific community to scrutinize more thoroughly the myriad of potential extraterrestrial life forms. In doing so, the Seager Equation fosters a more comprehensive understanding of the boundless possibilities for life outside our solar system.

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Blog7

Posted on April 15, 2023 by lucasliu6

picture sources

Astrobiology delves into some of the most profound questions concerning our existence, transcending traditional scientific disciplines to explore life beyond our planet. This enthralling field investigates the astonishing implications of extremophiles, organisms that withstand Earth’s harshest environments. These extraordinary life forms reveal an unimaginable variety of adaptive strategies, raising the possibility that life could thrive under conditions not yet considered.

Moreover, astrobiology illuminates the idea of “shadow biospheres”—terrestrial ecosystems inhabited by undiscovered life forms possessing fundamentally different biochemistries from those we currently understand. Unearthing such organisms would transform our comprehension of life and challenge long-held assumptions about its properties.

The pursuit of extraterrestrial life underscores the importance of planetary protection, a collection of guidelines and procedures designed to prevent celestial bodies from being contaminated with terrestrial life forms and to avoid introducing potential alien organisms to our planet. While often disregarded, this consideration is crucial for maintaining the integrity of scientific research and ensuring Earth’s biosphere remains secure.

By pushing the boundaries of our understanding of life and its origins, astrobiology encourages us to broaden our horizons, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration to solve the universe’s mysteries while deepening our admiration for life’s resilience and adaptability.

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Down the Rabbit Hole Again…

Posted on April 14, 2023 by drgrundstrom

Researching stuff can be so fun! Though it sometimes takes longer than planned ;)

Image of colorful geological feature as seen from an overlook.
Grand Prismatic Spring by Flickr user Bernd Thaller

As I talked about it class briefly, there’s a drone in the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park and it was a TOTALLY big deal, especially right away. I found a good article that was from 11 months after the event so provided some context and updates: A crashed drone could destroy Yellowstone’s Grand Prismatic Spring in the Idaho State Journal newspaper. Scientists are worried about the battery especially. Now we’re almost 10 years later, that drone has never been recovered, and the colors are still beautiful (they’re caused by the microbes) so hopefully all is well. Time will tell.

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The Event Horizon Telescope

Posted on April 11, 2023 by jackdoyle25

We’ve spent the semester so far studying the greatest discoveries and breakthroughs in the history of astronomy, from as long ago as Copernicus to as recent as the New Horizons flyby of Pluto. Even more recently, however, an astronomical breakthrough was made that will surely be the subject of textbook pages and lecture slides in future classrooms.

In 2019, the Event Horizon Telescope, or EHT, captured the first image of a black hole in history. The existence of black holes, along with their characteristics, had been known long before this image, but one had never been directly imaged.

The first ever image of a black hole.

Obtaining an image of a black hole is an extremely difficult endeavor. The singularity at the center of any black hole has immense gravitational force. At a point known as the event horizon, this gravity is so strong that not even light can escape the black hole. This is why the image shows a dark center; light from within that region is beyond the event horizon and can not escape. The surrounding orange glow is caused by gas around the black hole, which may well be pulled past the event horizon in time.

Black holes are some of the most fascinating phenomena in astronomy, but until the EHT came along, no image existed of one. This emphasizes the incredible power of scientific modeling; without having an image of a black hole, astronomers were able to make thorough discoveries about the nature of black holes by examining their effects on other celestial bodies. Now that imaging of black holes is possible, these discoveries can be challenged, modified, and added to with far greater precision.

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The Great Red Spot

Posted on April 11, 2023 by jackdoyle25

If you look for an image of Jupiter in any article or textbook, you’ll likely see the famous Great Red Spot in that picture. This immense storm on Jupiter’s surface is more than double the size of Earth, and has raged on for centuries. The incredible size and duration of the Great Red Spot begs questions as to how this is the case; the storms we know on Earth last for a few weeks in the most extreme of cases. What explains this nigh-impossibly large and long-lived storm?

A NASA image of the Great Red Spot.

The storm itself is situated between two “bands” on Jupiter’s surface, which could explain its formation. These bands move in opposite directions, which may have led to the initial disequilibrium that is known to create storms. This type of formation is seen in a different way on Earth, where hurricanes form out of warm air arising from warm water. Jupiter doesn’t have liquid water oceans, but a similar disequilibrium of temperatures may have caused storms including the Great Red Spot. In fact, we know that Jupiter’s cloud layers are distinct by composition, temperature, and depth, which may play a role in storm formation.

As to the longevity of the Great Red Spot, there is no certain answer. It is possible that the storm creates enough disequilibrium in Jupiter’s troposphere to sustain itself, but this is conjecture. It’s also possible that the storm simply hasn’t run out of steam because there’s nothing on the gas giant’s surface to take that steam away.

Though we know very little for certain about the Great Red Spot, its existence and persistence raise huge questions in our understanding of Jovian planets, and in our understanding of our own weather. Determining the forces behind this titanic storm could provide breakthroughs in both Jovian and terrestrial meteorology.

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A Tiny Black Hole?

Posted on April 10, 2023 by alicebyrnes

Black holes have always fascinated me, so here I am, writing a second blog post about them. I recently read a sci-fi novel that involved a man-made black hole. It was incredibly massive, but only the size of a pinprick. This led me to wondering, what are the smallest black holes we’ve discovered in real life?

Black hole illustration

Just last year, as discussed in this article, astronomers identified one of the smallest black holes ever discovered moving through the Milky Way galaxy. There is some debate over how small it actually is. The team of Baltimore astronomers who made the initial discovery used Hubble observations to conclude that the black hole had a mass of approximately 7.1 times the Sun’s (or 7.1 “solar masses”). However, another team out of California concluded that the black hole could weigh between 1.6 and 4.4 solar masses. According to the article, stellar-mass black holes are typically formed from stars of solar masses of about 20. It is also unique in that it is wandering the galaxy alone: without being accompanies by any stars.

It’s unclear how large these black holes are in volume, and I’m not sure that’s something we can detect with current technology. It’s cool to imagine what a baseball-sized, or even a Moon-sized, black hole would be like!

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What do we know about the Oort Cloud?

Posted on April 10, 2023 by alicebyrnes

Not much is known about the Oort Cloud, because it is simply so far away! Rather than being a disk like the asteroid and Kuiper belts, it is thought to be a spherical shell that surrounds the Solar system. The precise bounds of the cloud are not known, but it is thought to extend from about 2,000 to 100,000 AU from the Sun, taking up an incredible (over 99.99%) amount of the total volume of the Solar System. I would be interested to learn in how the density of objects varies throughout that volume.

The Oort cloud relative to the rest of the solar system, on an exponential scale. Sourced from phys.org

Oort cloud objects are incredibly distant and dim. Therefore, we haven’t observed many bodies in the cloud itself, via spacecraft or telescope: instead its existence is largely inferred. It was proposed by astronomer Jan Oort in the 1950s as a way of explaining long-period comets, which can have orbits hundreds of thousands of years long. The NASA article from which this information is sourced gives the example of comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring, which after passing by Mars in 2014 will not return for another 740,000 years.

Unfortunately, with our current technology there isn’t much hope of visiting the Oort cloud with spacecraft. However, propulsion and aerospace technology is constantly advancing. If we progressed from traveling via (literal) horse power to landing on the Moon in under a century, I have no doubt humankind will someday send a probe to the Oort cloud! It’s exciting imagining what we could learn from it.

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