Is there another planet like earth in the Galaxy are people living in it?

Answer 1

That's a great question. Basically the answer to whether there is life in the universe is always a good one. In the universe, being as vast as it is, there is absolutely have been/are/will be advanced intelligent races but they will be forever removed from us by oceans of time and space - in galaxies far far away.

To specifically answer your question, It's VERY likely that there other civilizations in this galaxy. The reasons is simple but you have to put up with some math and some history.

Back in the 60's some scientists asked the very same question, and came out with a basic formula that figures that out.

The main idea was fleshed out by a scientist named Frank Drake, he basically put some of the parts of the question together differently and assigned a likelyhood/probability to each.

Drake asked the question this way, "What was the likelyhood of us communicating with another technically advanced civilization?"

Since that question breaks down, into parts that we can discover answers to the parts by looking around the universe, over time , we will be able to make a very good guestimate of how many civilizations are out there.

For instance one "factor" in his equation was "the likelyhood of a sunlike star"

Another "factor" was "The likelyhood of a sunlike star with planets like Earth" - this gives you the basic idea.

The link here, takes you to a PBS special from some time ago which allows you to plug different numbers in and guess how many other civilizations there might be!

But also, you should keep an eye on the headlines,

The French have recently launched a space-telescope which should be able to find "Earthlike" planets called Corot.

Corot Launched : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6203161.stm,

When "Corot" finds some Earth like planets (or doesn't find them), we can then do math to figure out how common they are ,and basically "know" one of the numbers we can only guess at now.

In a few years the US/NASA will - funding allowed - be able to launch an satelite next year called "Kepler" which will search for "Earthlike" finding space-telescope as well.

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/tpf_techwed_040526.html

Drake Equation : http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/origins/drake.html

Another question similar to yours is whether we will contact or ever be contacted by an alien civilization.

The SETI program in the 1990's and presently is designed to discovery signals from alien civilizations, and it is regularly if not constantly listening towards the stars for the faintest of signals.

But this question actually has a suprising answer, the answer may ALREADY be yes. The transmission is called the "Wow" signal and was detected on August 15,1977.

IF we asume the "Wow signal" is genuine, we would have been able to detect an alien civilization's message without it being specifically "for" us, which is a rare find, but after only 80 or 90 years could potentially mean the universe is crawling with life!

However, because it's just a fluke since we have not since found another "Wow" type signal,we shouldn't get too excited.

In the movie Contact (based on the Carl Sagan novel), the first 1/2 of the movie shows what a "first contact" situation might actually be like. It's unlikely that the signal would be able to be interpreted in the first couple of years or maybe even decades.

An open and interesting socioloigcal question is what would the immediate aftermath (on Earth) be of a first contact situation, the movie points out some of the "popular" disruptions to society.

Answer 2

It is possible there is another planet with intelligent life forms, but most likely not "people". I'm not God so I can't say for sure. Another earth like planet would most likely harbor creatures much, much different than creatures here on earth. The geographic make-up of a planet would contribute greatly to what kind of life it would possess. The size and density of the planet would determine what kind of gravity the planet would have and possibly effect how large the creatures may be and what kind of muscle build they have. Alien Planet is a discovery channel documentary on how life could be on a different planet and explains how life could turn out on a different planet. If there was intelligent life on another planet, it's highly possible it wouldn't even be in any of our earthly animal groups such as amphibians, reptiles, or mammals. The climate of the planet would also have something to do with what the animal would be like. It's strange what small factors make us so successful, or unsuccessful for the pessimistic critics out there. The use of opposable thumbs, our ability to communicate with each other. I also believe that for a planet to support intelligent life, it could be very different from earth. Perhaps life on a different planet wouldn't even require oxygen, maybe some other gas. Water might not even be a requirement. Look at heat vents deep under the ocean or hot springs in Yellow Stone which reach extreme temperatures yet some bacteria live in that environment. Now imagine a planet that never gets below 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Is it possible that if earth was hot all around, that the bacteria could eventually evolve into larger beings?

Answer 3

Well, there might. Maybe there is another star like the sun and there is a planet exactly the same distance from the star as the earth is to the sun, and the star is almost the same size as the sun, then yes, there is a possibility.

But those people won't have evolved like us, maybe they have only one eye, four or five limbs, etc LOL

Answer 4

Some of you people saying "no" need to be aware that there are over 100 BILLION stars in the Milky Way. I find it highly unlikely that technology has only developed on one measly planet around one average star from that 100 billion.

Going by the Drake equation there should be thousands of civilisations in the Milky Way. As for the people who think we'll never visit them, you have about as much vision as the people in the Middle Ages who thought man would never go to the moon. Try and use some imagination. Do you really think we'll be flying around in rockets in a million years from now? Maybe our technology might have developed a bit by then?

Answer 5

May be.There is always a possibility that life exists somewhere in the universe. Religion denies there is another planet with life on it but we cannot be definite. Up to what we know today, we have seen no evidence of life whatsoever but who knows, the might be life some where.

Answer 6

If the universe is infinite, then there is an infinitely large chance that there are infinite planets exactly like the earth. If the universe is finite, however, the chances are greatly reduced to almost zero (the almost part varying in probability proportional with the size of the universe).

Answer 7

They think one of Mercury's or Saturn's moons (I can't remember) is A LOT like Earth. They say that in a while it will be exactly like Earth. ABout that whole people living and what not. Im not sure, I don't think they have evolved as much as us, if there is any life, it is just bacteria and will need some time to advance.

Answer 8

NASA scientists say that there is prop ability of life on any other planet in this galaxy.id on,t say that they may be exact like us.the basic requirement for life is O2 and water. and recently i have read that water is available on mars. so, may life sustains there in the form of microscopic form.
there are millions of stars.sun is one of them.sun has its own galaxy.so, other stars may also have other galaxies.so, it is sure that life sustains there.but in our galaxy there may be?

Answer 9

We are not certain. I read one book that said Earth was the center of the Universe, I read another that said nobody knows where the actual center is. I read one that said the Earth was flat, I read one that said it was round, both have been challenged. Accept that we do not know certain things and never can understand or comprehend certain aspects of a reality that we think exists and you will be the wiser for it.

Answer 10

It is very possible that there is another planet with life similar to our own but we have no way of knowing and even ever visiting it.