Could There Really Be Life On These Planets?

Question

NASA scientists said they discovered a fifth planet orbiting a star outside our own solar system and say the discovery suggests there are many solar systems that are, just like our own, packed with planets.
The new planet is much bigger than Earth, but is a similar distance away from its sun. The star is very much like our own sun. It has about the same mass and is about the same age as our sun.

Raymond: I personally know Frank Drake.

Answer 1

Astronomers can't detect planets as small as the earth, over interstellar distances, with the techniques they currently have.

It's remarkable they've found any planets at all. Some of them do look marginally hospitable to some kind of life.

It all implies that there may be smaller planets as well, some of them perhaps very much like earth, almost certainly containing life.

It seems likely the technology to detect such smaller planets may become available in time.

Answer 2

It's possible, but at this point there's no way to really know. We need more information. Even though planetary systems are common, we have no idea how common life is. Life on earth may just be an anomaly, something that happened once by chance, never to happen again. Continued exploration of Mars may give us a clue. If we find life there, even bacterial life, then that's good evidence that the universe is probably filled with life. If it can happen twice in one solar system then it must happen almost anywhere that has favourable conditions.

Answer 3

Trick question:

A question that begins with "Could there be..." must always be answered by 'yes' unless one has proof that the answer is no.

Could we be hit by an asteroid during the next century? yes.
Could I be Santa Claus? why not.
Could they give me the next lottery jackpot without holding a draw? Hey, I can dream.

A better question would be to ask about the probability of the event coming true.

What is the probability that the newly discovered planet hosts life as we know it? Very, very slim. The planet is much bigger (more gravity); we do not know what it is made of (could be missing a key ingredient like phosphorus). Does the atmosphere protect the surface against UV rays and stellar wind? Is it located in an area of the Galaxy that is bathed in X-ray?

As for the probability that some [other] planet somewhere has life, check out the 'Drake Equation'.

Answer 4

Well, with the right distance from their sun and the right size of the planet, water may exist in its usable form which is water. Scientists agree that water is essential to life but then there maybe life forms that are not carbon based and may altogether be so alien in nature that we will ultimately fail to notice them. Such questions on ETs are more in the realm of philosophy to me. Many exobiologists would like to believe that there are life on other planets somewhere out there and would go onto a lot of statistics and proofs but the moment an ET is discovered is the time that their speculations would be justified... else they will still remain just that... speculations.

Answer 5

large question. i think while people say it somewhat is totally designed, they're regularly touching on the shown fact that it somewhat is totally designed to permit sustained life (in assessment to the different planet in our image voltaic gadget). look at Earth, it somewhat is located completely far flung from the sunlight. If we've been added, it may be too chilly. If we've been nearer, it may be too warm. If it spun swifter, we could be in hardship, slower, and we'd be in hardship nevertheless. we are the only conventional planet that has life in this significant universe. in terms of species dying or going extinct. that doesn't point out a wrong layout. All creatures that during a few unspecified time interior the destiny existed, probable fulfilled their purpose for latest, regardless of if that's balancing out the nutrition chain, helping flora reproduce with the aid of spreading seeds, or offering some source for guy, or regardless of. and additionally, who's to declare that the there by no skill could have been extinction or dying if there wasn't disobedience interior the backyard? we don't understand that. it ought to have been designed completely, yet after the autumn God chosen to enable issues ensue as they did with our loose will. large question.

Answer 6

All life in earth, according to theory, are evolved from a single cell. In other words, viable life came about only once in earth's 6 billion year history, and that's favourable conditions for much of the history.

Favourable conditions is one thing, and it's more than distance from the sun. Tides, period of rotation, makeup of elements, aspect of the sun's rays all play a role. That's conditions. For life to actually develop is another.

There COULD be life somewhere else, but for us to actually stumble upon it in our vicinity would be statistically unimaginable. Biologists usually have a more pessimistic view of the likelyhood of life, than astronomers. For me that is quite telling.

I agree with Raymond, the question should be answered in probability terms. That is where the hope (likely) fails.

Answer 7

I don't see why not. We've found life on this planet almost every place we've looked--even in the most extreme environments: volcanic vents at the ocean floor, under the antarctic ice, toxic brine pools. There's an awful lot of room in the universe. It'd be stranger to think that life only exists on this one little planet.

Answer 8

I doubt life would exist on the planets themselves - all gas giants. But if they had rocky moons, that might be a distinct possiblity.