It is almost established that their is no life on the rest of the planets of our solar system.If present must be a microorganism (That also seems to be a rear possibility). What are we doing to know about the hidden truth beyond our solar system. Yes I know that our satellite has crossed the solar system, but what about beyond that i.e what are our plans for the future.Please if any of you know or have read please tell me.
2006-07-12 08:26:29 · 9 answers · asked by vizblue 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
One plan has to do with sending out more powerful space-based telescopes designed, specifically, to explore planets outside of our own solar system. One such set of telescopes due to roll out in the very near future (10-20 years) is called the "Terrestrail Planet Finder".
Read more about it here...........
http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/TPF/tpf_index.cfm
Most recent news about TPF.........
http://planetquest.jpl.nasa.gov/TPF/detectionMilestone.cfm
2006-07-12 08:51:33 · answer #1 · answered by Abstract 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If life proliferated easily in the universe, which is about 4 times older than our Solar System, and our Solar System has produced us in a quarter of the age of the universe, then there should be advanced civilisations knocking on our door, so to speak.
The fact that there isn't means either they don't want to interfere (all religions would be in chaos) or they simply aint there.
I tend to think the latter. I think the circumstances that led to the evolution of life on Earth to create highly sentient beings like us, are incredibly special. For instance, if the chances are 10 billion to 1, and there are less than 10 billion planets in the galaxy where life could possibly develop, then chances are that we are alone in the galaxy.
When considering what makes a system special for the possibility of life, it is not just a case is there a planet of the right size in the right place. The system has to be relatively stable for billions of years. For instance, since life started on Earth, there have been several asteroid impacts that have wiped out a great proportion of the species. If any of these had been big enough to wipe out everything, life would have to start again. If total extinction events happened say every couple hundred million years, life would never get the chance to develop to the level of sentient beings.
And the fact is, we have a very stable system compared with most parts of the galaxy. If our system had 10 times the number of asteroids, we would not be here. Simple mathematical statistics.
There are many more circumstances that have helped to nurture life - the position of the huge planets Jupiter and Saturn that sweep up with their gravity lots of the dangerous asteroids and comets before they reach the inner Solar System.
The earth has a spinning iron core than produces enough magnetism to deflect killer particles and rays from the Sun and from the cosmos. How rare is that? Also the composition of the Earth means we have a level of seismicity (Earthquakes and volcanoes) that though devastating in local events, are never big enough to wipe us all out.
There are many more special features that make the Earth unique. Go do some research on the internet.
2006-07-12 18:55:07 · answer #2 · answered by nick s 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We know very little about other solar systems. It is only the last 10 or 20 years that we had any evidence that planets existed orbiting other stars, although it was assumed to be the case for a long time. In some cases we know a planet's mass and orbital distance, but not always accurately. There has been a measurement of sodium in the atmosphere of one planet in another solar system and carbon and oxygen in another. But we are very far from being able to detect life on planets orbiting other stars.
2006-07-12 17:26:07 · answer #3 · answered by campbelp2002 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The time it takes for any human vessel to reach another solar system is thousands of years. Even the closest one. So - if we would know that even the closest solar system contained life, it would be pretty useless. It would take perhaps even with the greatest efforts from a global project hundreds of years to build a vessel large enough to transport enough ppl there to colonize or investigate and then at least a couple of hundred years to get there. Then the message in itself that "all was well" would take a bunch of years. Not much point in my opinion.
2006-07-12 16:38:00 · answer #4 · answered by mattias carlsson 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The nearest possible "planetary system" is Alpha Centauri, a triple star system. (The "solar system" generally refers to our system of planets, the "Sol" system...as our sun is referred to as Sol.) It is possible that Alpha Centauri could have planets in the so-called "habitable zone" around any of the three stars, but we do not yet know if there are any.
The official number of planets we know about beyond the solar system is 194, and the number keeps growing. (source below) As yet, none of these planets are Earth-like and are quite unlikely to have life.
As mentioned by someone else, there are future plans for space-based telescopes that could find Earth-like planets around other stars. Still, the question of life out there is going to be a very difficult one to answer for a very long time.
2006-07-12 16:24:25 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is a large program that has been active for quite a while called SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence). Since it is currently impossible for us to visit a civilization on a distant world, SETI has developed a communications system with a powerful transmitter and reciever to search for intelligent life. It's a difficult task to search all spatial coordinates for an artificial signal, but it's a start to our interaction with other life in the uniuverse.
2006-07-12 15:50:03 · answer #6 · answered by whosyodaddy3030 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We know very litte about even the closest system with planets. But our best shot is in exporation of our outerplanets and their moons...Europa (Jupiter) Encleadeas (Saturn). Bot seem to have water, Europa could have oceans beneath the miles-thick ice...that's where we need to go.
2006-07-12 15:36:46 · answer #7 · answered by nittany128 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is life in the Zeta Reticuli system on a planet called serpo.
http://www.serpo.org/
2006-07-12 15:31:25 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
we dont know much about it but scientists know that its there and there are suns and planets there. are they able to support life is what they are trying to figure out.
2006-07-12 16:00:52 · answer #9 · answered by jamz 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋