Maybe we can find one without a Nancy Pelosi?
There could be one hundred billion Earth-like planets in our galaxy, a US conference has heard.
BBC News -- Science
Dr Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institution of Science said many of these worlds could be inhabited by simple lifeforms.
He was speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago.
So far, telescopes have been able to detect just over 300 planets outside our Solar System.
Very few of these would be capable of supporting life, however. Most are gas giants like our Jupiter; and many orbit so close to their parent stars that any microbes would have to survive roasting temperatures.
But, based on the limited numbers of planets found so far, Dr Boss has estimated that each Sun-like star has on average one "Earth-like" planet.
This simple calculation means there would be huge numbers capable of supporting life.
"Not only are they probably habitable but they probably are also going to be inhabited," Dr Boss told BBC News. "But I think that most likely the nearby 'Earths' are going to be inhabited with things which are perhaps more common to what Earth was like three or four billion years ago." That means bacterial lifeforms.
Dr Boss estimates that Nasa's Kepler mission, due for launch in March, should begin finding some of these Earth-like planets within the next few years.
Recent work at Edinburgh University tried to quantify how many intelligent civilisations might be out there. The research suggested there could be thousands of them.
i agree there are probably many worlds that are capable of life and many that are above the bacterium level
ReplyDeleteThis is great. It's insane to think we are the only intelligent life in the universe. I don't know why we haven't gone to Mars yet. I think it's way past due. Great pics too!
ReplyDeleteAwesome post as well as info. I agree with the alligator below. LOL
ReplyDeleteGod forbid there are any more Nancy Pelosi's in the universe, lol
ReplyDeleteOh great....more places men can live...and I can't understand them....sigh.
ReplyDeleteOften gaze at the sky and wonder what is out there we don't know of yet....
ReplyDeleteBeing raised in Cocoa Beach and watching so many launches, I always figured we would see men on other planets in our lifetime... lol... If that is true, they need to hurry up!!!! Very interesting blog, John... I see the whole situation has Cherie very perplexed!!!.
This is actually an old theory. Gene Roddenberry, used a similar theory back in 1965 to sell the STAR TREK concept.
ReplyDeleteThis has all happened before, it will all happen again.
honestly, I have to wonder about that statement. Why couldn't they be inhabited with people just like us? I mean, it's takes a great arrogance to 'admit' that there might be life on other planets and then refuse to admit that it might be life like ours! LOL
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, my theory is that if there are, we won't ever know it until after we die. God is certainly big enough to have made more than one type of 'earth'. I personally am a little to wrapped up in my life here to worry about life elsewhere though! LOL
honestly, I have to wonder about that statement. Why couldn't they be inhabited with people just like us? I mean, it's takes a great arrogance to 'admit' that there might be life on other planets and then refuse to admit that it might be life like ours! LOL
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, my theory is that if there are, we won't ever know it until after we die. God is certainly big enough to have made more than one type of 'earth'. I personally am a little to wrapped up in my life here to worry about life elsewhere though! LOL
If we we were the only "intelligent" (and I use this word very loosely) life in the universe, it would be an awful waste of space !!!!
ReplyDeletePersonally, I hope that we will not travel to and inhabit other planets ... and destroy them the way we are destroying Earth !!!
I always think these theories very interesting. I'm convinced there will once be found a planet with some form of life on it, but I don't think it will happen in my lifetime..
ReplyDelete