Bison Bud

I watched several shows on the Discovery Channel last night that were about mankind's efforts to locate life elsewhere in the cosmos. I found it very interesting, especially that they have found many promising planets, etc. These planets reside at distances from their home stars that could allow liquid water, are rocky rather than gas planets, and could be good candidates for further study. While liquid water is generally considered to be the key to finding life out there, I think they are overlooking something else just as important and that is magnetism. Our earth is shielded from excess radiation by it's magnetic field and without it I doubt that there would be much if any life here regardless of liquid water. So, I am wondering if there is a way to detect such magnetic fields on these remote, but promising planets? They seem to be able to detect and analyze the atmospheres and look for organic compounds, etc. So, is it possible to detect a magnetic field on these distant planets? I think that might be a big step forward in this type of research. Just a thought and maybe not of interest to many here, but I thought I'd put it out there and see if there is any response.

davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

Flip a coin. Heads means scientists are looking for "Extraterrestial life" and tails means they are looking for another planet to destroy after we are done with Earth. Scientists are undecided about this dilemma.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Unfortunately, I don't believe we will ever find intelligent life in the universe. As you said, magnetism, water, and distance from the star must be just right. And that's just the beginning. Many happy coincidences lined up just right for life of any kind of life, let alone intelligent life, to appear on earth. I don't care how many trillions of stars are out there. The chances of this happening again are ridiculously small. Look at the millions of species that have developed on earth. Humans are the only ones with a considerable level of intelligence - and look how we have abused that intelligence.

For the same reasons, I don't see us colonizing Mars. It's just too inhospitable. Maybe we could use it as a prison colony. : )

DebAnn Loc: Toronto

Well said Jerry. I don't think there's any point on spending the billions of dollars that go into space research, especially when we should be spending it on the problems the human race has created on earth. There isn't any evidence to suggest there is any kind of life whatsoever on other planets.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

If there is intelligent life out there, will they be friendly to us?

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

I watched a similar program last night and discovered that it’s all about probabilities. Even if you have a minuscule chance of life developing on a planet, there are so many stars just in our galaxy that have planets where life could develop and evolve into sentient beings. My other thought is that the distance between stars and the limit imposed by the speed of light eliminates inter-stellar travel for living beings. Self-replicating robots may be able to survive such a long journey but then again you’re up against the millennia required to evolve life from simple replicating cells to complex beings capable of challenging the limits of inter-stellar travel. We’re not alone in the universe but we live on isolated islands, never allowed to make contact. That’s my theory anyway, for what it’s worth.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Right. Distance is the major hurdle. It's hard to comprehend a distance that takes light a million years to travel. People traveling in a space ship? It takes months to travel within our own solar system. We should be satisfied with sci-fi movies.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

I believe there is other life out there. Intelligent? Maybe not. Able to visit us. No way.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

👍👍👍

Bison Bud

Wow, a lot more initial response than I expected here! I too believe that the possibility of intelligent life out there is indeed remote, but not out of the question. I think the chances of finding intelligent radio signals give us the highest odds for discovery, but so far this approach has been fruitless after many years of looking. However, I also feel that life at a bacterial level may be abundant and evolution is a proven fact, at least here. Given the eons of time since the Big Bang, I can't say that there isn't some other intelligent race out there. However, as already mentioned the vast distances between us create a barrier that may never be broken and as also already mentioned, maybe that's a good thing.

In response to those that feel money is being wasted on this type of research and could be better spent, I would first say that most of this research is privately rather than government funded. I also feel that the pursuit of knowledge is a worthy cause and that we all benefit from it in the long run. The total amount spent on this type of research is miniscule compared to the money spent on climate change/gobal warming and we've got no real answers there either. Does that mean that this research should stop? I for one don't think so!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

It took the Voyager spacecrafts forty-three years just to leave our galaxy.

APSHEPPARD

Somehow the matter of time never gets factored in either. An advanced civilization might have existed e.g, six billion years ago, prospered, explored but never figured out how to escape from their planetary system before it was destroyed simply by the "death" of its sun. The earth nor our sun would have been a factor because they did not even exist. At best, we have only been able to detect extra-terrestrial life for about half a century unless they actually visited here. So not only does it become a matter of water, magnetism, etc., but when?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Yes, that's one of the theories. After becoming advanced, civilizations run the risk of destroying themselves. On the other hand, maybe there's a civilization that has no interest in killing or war.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Yes, definitely life, but probably microscopic. Not intelligent, though.

APSHEPPARD

That is always a possibility, but I was referring to the simple factor that the sun like objects have finite lives which even if we are totally peaceful and conservation conscious will still happen in the astronomical distant future and could have happened to many civilizations long before earth even existed