· Could there be life in the galaxies nearest to the Milky Way?

Answer 1

Why not? But we have not exhausted looking around the Milky Way and its 200 billion stars yet. Indeed nearly all the 250 or so exoplanets we have found, to date, are within 1,000 light years from earth, and the farthest away one is 21,500 light years away, so we have only really combed our end of the galaxy at the moment.

So the prospects of communicating with and travelling to visit civilisations more than 100,000 light years away (that is the diameter of the Milky Way) is pretty daunting when we cannot reach the nearest star to us in under 60,000 years at present rocket speeds!

However, you are quite right. If life exists elsewhere in the universe, then it will exist in every galaxy and around most kinds of stars.

The problem with contemplating looking for exoplanets outside the Milky Way is that we cannot see individual stars in other galaxies to be noticing any tell-tale "wobbles" in their movement which would indicate the presence of an exoplanet.

At least with stars in the Milky Way we can see the stars (though not the exoplanets, they are far too faint). So practical considerations may limit the search to our own backyard for quite a while longer!

Answer 2

Certainly the could be life in galaxies nearest to our galaxy. This does not say anything about its probabilities though. Almost daily new planets are found outside this solar system.
Some have been "earth like," some show evidence of water, some have other traits considered necessary for life.
Also, there are many studies based on earth's life forms that seem to show that life may come about fairly easily. There are theories that life started and failed several, maybe even many times, before the life form from which all current inhabitants of earth evolved finally started, took hold , survived and reproduced.
It is an amazing thought. You and every single thing alive on earth now is a direct descendant from this being, with each and every intermediary surviving long enough to pass on its genetic package, with just an occasional seemingly insignificant change in the genes it received.

Answer 3

Other than our Milky Way. the largest Local Group galaxies M-31 and M-33 certainly could have life bearing planets. They've been forming stars continously for billions of years. Within 15 million light years of the Milky Way are hordes of other spiral and irregular galaxies that have been forming new stars since their births, and have a significant amount of "metals" or elements heavier than hydrogen and helium. Without them, life as we understand it cannot exist. Any galaxy that has both of these traits can harbor planets with some form of life living on them. Elliptical galaxies formed most of their stars all at once and have both very little metal content. That makes them a poor place for planets to form, let alone life. Some ellipticals could have life bearing planets, but that would only be the result of cannibalizing other galaxies that developed both high metal contents and life bearing planets.

Answer 4

The galaxies that are nearest to the Milky Way are mostly small galaxies that aren't very bright. Some of them (though not all) have low rates of star formation, and many are in the process of being torn apart by gravitational interaction with the Milky Way.

Overall, these qualities aren't very favorable for the presence of Earth-like planets and life. Galaxies that aren't very bright also tend to have low metallicities (metallicity is a measure of the amount of elements heavier than hydrogen and helium in the galaxy; these elements are created in the cores of dying stars - in particular, hot bright stars - so bright galaxies with long histories of star formation are more likely to have high metallicity). These heavy elements are needed in order for rocky planets like the Earth to form. In addition, irregular galaxies being torn apart by the Milky Way might not be favorable places for life to form because of the complicated orbits that the stars follow within the galaxy, which could potentially bring the stars close to dangerous objects. Spiral galaxies, where the stars go in well-defined orbits, are more stable and safer for the long-term prospects of life.

This is not to say that there couldn't be life in these galaxies. However, the most favorable galaxies for life are probably those like the Milky Way - big, bright spiral galaxies. The Andromeda Galaxy is the only other galaxy within our Local Group that is similar to the Milky Way - basically, the Local Group consists of the Milky Way and Andromeda plus a bunch of small "satellite galaxies" of each. If I were looking for intelligent life outside the Milky Way, I would probably focus on Andromeda rather than the small satellite galaxies that are nearer to us.

Answer 5

Absoulutely.Why not.Think of how many stars make up our gaxlaxy than add all stars of the known galaxies out there and then add ones we don't know about yet.High probability says some of all these stars have planets that have life and others not.

God created the heavens and the Earth so I'm sure that we are not the only planet in the whole infinite universe that supports life.

We are not alone

Answer 6

Of course there could; in fact it's almost unthinkable that there wouldn't be.

With billions of stars in each galaxy, there must be millions like our own Sun. We've already found the existence of planets orbiting other stars close to ourselves, so it's reasonable to assume this is not an uncommon occurrence.

Although the proportion of Sun-like stars is not high, it doesn't need to be - not with the overall number of stars to consider.

Whatever happened to create life on Earth could just as easily have created life on another Earth-like planet. The odds for each star are very low, but with so many stars to choose from......

The answer really has to be yes.

Answer 7

i've got faith so...dun think of the whole universe is created basically for human beings. Even interior our own galaxy, the unexplored or unfound stars/planets are properly into the tens of millions. There may well be one with an environment that helps life. yet while u are a christian, den the respond could desire to be no...however i wouldnt understand y could god create all the extra beneficial planets and stars.

Answer 8

Yes because we know there is life on Mars.This was discovered by the investigators who met in the Hershey Bar after the Munity on the Bounty to decide if the Snowflake had a Ripple effect on the hundreds and thousands of Star Bars !

Answer 9

The nearest galaxy is about 25 thousand light years away. Of course there may be life but we will never know.

Answer 10

For certain. It was on the telly the other night that the earth is bombarded all year round by millions of tons of bacterial life from the remains of comets - if life is so abundant in space then its fair to assume that our nearest galaxies are also teeming with it.